Il castello di Sant'Alessio: una particolare struttura difensiva in Sicilia orientale.

Sant’Alessio castle: a particular defensive structure in eastern Sicily. Sant’Alessio promontory is, in the ionic Sicilian coast, one of the most relevant. The well-known representation of the military engineers Camillo Camilliani e Tiburzio Spannocchi, during the 17th century, who designed the entire Sicilian coast, draw Sant’Alessio promontory from the sea and highlighted the particular morphology of the place. A particular orography characterized this part of the coast: the site is composed of two promontories. A majestic quadrangular tower stands above the more external and elevated rock, a circular tower with the castle is on the behind promontory. In 1640 Francesco Negro e Carlo Maria Ventimiglia in their Atlas represented the plan and the façade of the castle on the two promontories and described the particular strategic position of the castle. The defensive structure was particularly important because it controlled the adjacent coasts and it was connected directly with the rock of Forza D’Agrò. The particular morphology of this area, seen from the highest part of rock, it represented in some drawings of the marques De Leda in the 18th century. The same landscape surprised Saint-Non expedition during their trip in Sicily; the nature and the castle, in a particular combination, excited the voyager who described the place «infiniment pittoresque».