Borgo fortificato

The Old Town of Belmonte Calabro is developed around a fortified complex, represented by the Castle, of Angevin foundation, and the subsequent expansion of the City Walls. The Castle was built in 1271 as impulse to the birth of the village. Of considerable size and located in a strategic place, the Castle was damaged by several earthquakes and from the French Siege, in 1806. Today, houses a Cultural Center, the Municipal Library and the Museum of Rural Life. The Walls, built after the thirteenth century, following the expansion of the town on the hill, are preserved only for certain segments: the different sections of the defensive system did not have a real walls, but they were made by the same walls of the houses. Each house elected, in an emergency, a "Captain to War", with the task of coordinating the defense of his specific trait. In the walled perimeter there were at least five towers, intended both to the Verre Valley and the Gate Valley Gate. A tower subsequently used as viewpoint, is called "a Turra", being the most prominent tower, featuring the image of the village itself from Marina di Belmonte. The stretch of the circle called "u Muraglio", is located in the up area called "u Diestru". The Old Town has also nine private homes with loopholes.

* Gabriele Turchi, Storia di Belmonte, Cosenza, 2004