How Was Melfi Built

Melfi is built of local volcanic stone, and what stands is what survived the earthquakes.

The castle

Begun by the Normans on a spur above the ravine, it was extended under Frederick II and again by the Angevins, who added the outer towers and the ditch. Eight towers survive of ten. The plan is irregular because it follows the rock, and the phases are legible in the masonry: rough Norman work low down, more regular Swabian courses above, Angevin additions outside. It was a fortress, a royal residence and a hunting lodge in turn, and later a private house, which is why it is intact rather than ruined.

The bell tower

The cathedral's campanile was built in 1153 under Roger II and is the oldest standing structure in the town. It is faced in courses of dark volcanic stone with pale limestone inlay and carries two stone dragons near the top. The cathedral beside it has been rebuilt twice after earthquakes and is now essentially eighteenth-century inside.

Rebuilt, twice

The 1851 earthquake destroyed most of the borgo. What replaced it is plain, solid and low, which is why Melfi looks younger at street level than its history suggests. The walls and several gates survive from the medieval circuit.

A castle used as a museum

The Angevin ditch and drawbridge approach still frame the entrance, and the halls inside now carry the archaeological collection. Using a fortress as a museum is usually a compromise; here it works, because the rooms are large, dry and lit from high windows, and the Rapolla sarcophagus sits in a space built for a king rather than in a display case in a modern annexe.

Cut into rock

Around the town the soft tuff holds cellars, stores and rock churches, including Santa Margherita with its thirteenth-century frescoes.