Fortress La Carnale

The Forte la Carnale, set on the Lungomare in the district that takes its name from this fortification, Torrione, is linked to a legendary story about a massacre of Saracens by Norman knights.

TheFort La Carnaleis located in the current districtTowers, a few hundred meters from the railway station of the city. Although the fortification was built only in the 16th century, recent restoration works brought to light traces oftombs of the Roman and Lombard period.

Its name is derived from a massacre of Saracens, which took place in the year 872 A.D., right around the promontory on which the fort now stands, by a group of Norman knights.

The writer John Julius Norwich, in his “The Normans in Sicily“, says that while a group of Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem was resting in Salerno, guests of the Lombard Duke Rainulfo, the city was attacked by the Saracens.

While the inhabitants fled and the undisturbed Saracens began to plunder the city, the Norman warriors put their hands on arms and inflicted a sound defeat to the plunderers. Theatre of the clashes and the carnage that followed it was the promontory that now houses the Fort “La Carnale”.

Since its construction, the fortification has had different use destinations. Some elements, such as the presence of irons in the walls and the particular position regarding the city, lead to think that it was initially acavalry tower,That is, he hosted men on horseback who had the task, in case of attacks from the sea, to warn the people.

In the middle of the 17th century the fortification was used byBroken by Pastena, also known as the Masaniello Salernitano, as a command base for an anti-Spanish revolt.

The central and elevated position also made it an excellentMilitary basefor the garrison of Enrico Cospitar who with his 100 men, opposed the landing of the French troops, and managed to save Salerno from capitulation.

In the fortification are to be seenbastions?walls,central male?cells for soldiersand theterrace on the sea. During the last war, Carnale was equipped with coastal batteries with traces still existing on the terraces.