LOCATION FILE
Castello di Mussomeli — the ghost of Guiscardo de la Portes
FOLLOWMussomeli, Sicily
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OVERVIEW
The Castello di Mussomeli (also castello manfredonico) stands on a rock about 778 m high, two kilometres east of Mussomeli in the province of Caltanissetta. The oldest traces, including the chapel, date from the Swabian kings of Sicily; the castle was built between 1364 and 1367 by Manfredi III Chiaramonte, Count of Modica.
HISTORY
The castle became known beyond Sicily — Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted to see it — for the legends and stories about its walls: the three women walled up alive; the documented tragedy of Laura Lanza, daughter of Cesare Lanza (made Count of Mussomeli), the Baroness of Carini, recorded in a deed of 1563; and Don Guiscardo de la Portes, a Spaniard in the service of King Martin I, killed in 1392 fighting the rebel Andrea Chiaramonte, the castle's 'presunto fantasma' (supposed ghost).
REPORTED ACTIVITY
LEGEND. The article calls Guiscardo the castle's supposed ghost and cites a local book written in his voice (P. Messina, Storia e leggende del castello manfredonico, secondo Guiscardo de la Portes, fantasma del castello, 1997) and another on its 'cronache e fantasmi' (2003). No sighting is described.
VISITING
Two kilometres east of Mussomeli; restored in 1911 and again in the early 2000s (€2.2 million).
SITE PLAN
UPLOAD A PLANNo plan on file yet.
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EXTERNAL RESOURCES
INVESTIGATION RECORD
0 GROUPS · 0 VISITS
No group has logged an investigation here yet.
HISTORICAL RECORD · 0 CITED ENTRIES
SIGN IN TO CONTRIBUTENo cited entries yet. Deeds, newspaper reports, census lines, photographs, ledgers — anything with a source.
COMMUNITY EVIDENCE
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GROUP FINDINGS