The castle built over a temple of Ceres

Why does a massive stone castle sit on this specific hill? Probably because the Sicani people realized it was a natural fortress back in the first millennium BC. They built a site for the goddess Ceres here - a cult so popular across Italy that Cicero wrote about it. The Romans eventually took it during the First Punic War, and the fortress remained a key possession in the subsequent history of the island.

History here is a bit of a mess - in the best way. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was used by the Byzantines and resisted assaults for many years. Following their victory, the fortress was rebuilt around the 10th century and used by their successors in Sicily, the Normans. Then came Frederick II, who wanted a summer residence. He hired Richard of Lentini to add 20 towers and renamed it after the Langobardia minor, from where his garrison came. Talk about a rebranding.

It served as a prison once, which is a classic, if slightly grim, turn for a fortress. In more recent times, it hosted a theater for pop music. It is a strange evolution from goddess worship to prisoner holding to opera.

You can walk through the 26,000 square metres of the Castello di Lombardia today. It remains one of the oldest and largest edifices in Italy, still watching over Enna from 970 metres above sea level.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons