The Normanno di Sangro Castle is located in the historic center of Anversa degli Abruzzi, in a dominant position over the town. Today the medieval tower is ruin, while the eighteenth-century structure is private property, which can be visited by appointment.
Built in the 12th century, its function was sighting and defense because, in optical alignment with the Orsa castle (Roccacasale), it controlled one of the southern entrances to the Peligna plain, the one from the Sagittarius Valley.
Belong to the Di Sangro family, owners of the county from the mid-twelfth century until the first half of the fifteenth, they enlarged it and fortified it further. In this period it had the function of a feudal curia: the Norman king, or his representative, judged the vassals there and treated criminal and civil cases. Its position made it easily accessible both from the Peligna basin and from the internal highlands dominated by the Di Sangro.
At the end of the 15th century the castle passed to the Belprato counts, new lords of Antwerp. Below them the building was again renovated and experienced a moment of great cultural splendor, becoming a refuge for writers and scientists. It hosted illustrious figures such as Torquato Tasso, the scientist Fabio Colonna and in 1896 also Gabriele D’Annunzio, who was struck by the environmental context of the Sagittarius gorges surrounding him, and set “La ficcola sotto il moggio”.
The castle was heavily damaged by the earthquake of 1706. They are still visible: the ruin of the strut tower, of which only two sides remain without openings with traces of corbels on one of the elevations; a low connection between the tower and the residential complex, surmounted by the stone crest of the Belprato-Della Tolfa-Orsini; finally the two-level garden with the connecting tower.
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