Castello - Cinta Muraria - Necropoli Paleocristiana
The site where once stood the Tropea Castle is today occupied by Toraldo-Serra palace. The Palace, built in 1887, has features common to other buildings in the city, such as the entrance hall with a barrel vault, the atrium and the attached scenographic stairs. The Castle stood at the entrance of the city, on a rock mass that rose up to fifteen meters in height on the road, even today, leading to the Marina. The mighty fortification, trapezoidal plant, with four towers at the corners, a garden with an ancient basilica in rectangular leaning against the walls and dedicated to St. Mary of the Woods, also had a Great Tower, a MasetrTower and a Long Tower. Over the centuries, this defensive system made Tropea impregnable: the oldest phase of the city walls, which was divided up to Sea Gate and Vatican Gate, dates back to the Greek-Gothic War (535 AD), by the Byzantine General Belisario. The only traces left along the road leads to Marina del Vescovado, from the garden near Toraldo-Serra Palace to the Cathedral. After the earthquake of 1783, it was made a third gate, New Gate, which corresponds to the start of the Course. During the demolition of the Castle, which took place between 1825 and 1876, it was found several dozen tombstones with inscriptions, an entire early Christian necropolis, with the names of religious figures. This epigraphic heritage, the largest and most important of Calabria, can be visited inside the Toraldo-Serra Palace, upon request.
