Borgo di Palizzi Superiore

The Palizzi Superiore Castle (fourteenth-nineteenth centuries) which towers on top of an enormous sheer rock, 300 metres above sea level dominates the town’s Mediaeval historic centre. Although the original fortress was probably built in the thirteenth century the present building was begun a century later by the Ruffo family. The original defensive structure restyled by the Romanos and Colonnas until, in 1860, the De Blasio barons transformed it into a residential palace. Of the original construction, we find the outer wall with its bastions, the crenels that follow the outline of the rock face and traces of battlements and louvers. The main entrance, topped by a machicolation, retains its stone arc ring and coat of arms with an inscription recalling Francesco Colonna, who restored the castle in 1580.

[BENEDETTA GENOVESE e RENATA MARINO (testi di), Castelli della Provincia di Reggio Calabria. Volume 7, Marina di Gioiosa Jonica (RC) 2002, p. 68]