AGRITOURISTIC FARM   “LA SELVETELLA”  Caiazzo

Built in 900 and then enlarged with various modifications until 1400, the castle dominates stately the town of Caiazzo.

The castle was probably built on the roman acropolis, which was already built on the Samnite settlings, whose remains you can still admire (megalithic polygonal walls).

The first testimonies quote the presence of the castle in 982, but the greatest splendour begins in 1229 when Caiazzo was set free from the siege of the Papal troops thanks to the intervention of the army personally headed by the Emperor Frederick II of Sweden. He often stayed there later and had a great regard for the town of Caiazzo, because was his personal secretary’s home-town, Pier delle Vigne.

In 1461 the castle was bought by Lucrezia d’Alagno, Alfonso I d’Aragona’s mistress and they often stayed together in the castle. According to the testimonies we have, the square tower is usually called “Lucrezia’s Tower” because Alfonso d’Aragona and Lucrezia d’Alagno used to meet in this part of the building, which seemed to be the dearest to the Aragonese and  his companion

Afterwards, with the Corsi Salviati, owners from 1607 to 1836, and then with the de Angelis, the castle gave hospitality to Francesco di Borbone, Carlo di Borbone, Ferdinando di Borbone with their families.  The last famous presence was in 1860, exactly on the 19^th of October. On that day, and perhaps even during the previous days, Giuseppe Garibaldi stayed there before meeting Vittorio Emanuele in Teano (you can find inscriptions on the walls of the square tower which report as date the 20^th of October).