Joan was born in Zara on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea on June 25, 1373. He had numerous mistresses and popular tradition transformed into a sort of mantis that undid her suitors (often chosen from among the good-looking young commoners), after crazy nights of love, making them disappear into deadly traps. For centuries it was narrated, in fact, that the lustful queen possessed, inside Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino), a secret trap door: lovers, once they fulfill the desires of the sovereign, were thrown into this pit here and devoured by a hungry crocodile, to hear the voice of the people, the queen had brought with him from Africa up in the basement of the manor.

The amazing story, which joins the one that wants the queen architect of the destruction of the village of Satriano, Puglia, just because the inhabitants of this small village of Lombard origin had dared to kidnap his lady of the court (but another version has it that the destruction the village has been commissioned for the denial of a young baronet ‘s place in the match thanks love the queen).

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Perhaps because gruesome and disturbing, this and other legends have finished with the increasing popularity and curiosity and Joan I of Naples (Naples, ca. 1327 – Muro Lucano, May 12, 1382) and Joan II, which are often associated and confused, but they were both called to rule a kingdom at the center of disputes in a historical moment of the most difficult and troubled history of Naples.

The tomb of Joan II of Angiò-Durazzo is located inside the monumental Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata Maggiore in Naples, part of a larger complex consisting originally only by the church, even from a convent, a hospital, from a hospice for orphans (the “exposed”) and through a “shelter” for poor girls or lack of family.

L'articolo Joan II of Angiò , the legend of Queen Mantis proviene da Charme.

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New Castle, popularly referred to as Angevin Male, is now one of the recognized symbols of Naples in the world, since most of Neapolitan history is intertwined with the history of the fortress. Built in 1279 at the behest of Carlo I of Anjou, it was the royal residence of the transalpine family and home to a court by the intense cultural and political activity.

In 1294 the Maior Hall of the fortress was fisrt the scene of a great refusal – as Dante would say – when Pope Celestine V abdicated the papacy on December 13. Then of the celebration of a new pope: Bonifacio VIII. Even the Aragonese, the successors of Anjou, made the “Male” the place of their political and cultural power. Indeed, the new king of Naples took possession of the kingdom with the conquest of the fortress, celebrated with the majestic marble triumphal arch that crowns the entrance, whose vaults evoke, through bas-reliefs and sculptures, the moment when Alfonso the Magnanimous (June 12, 1442 ) was able to conquer the castle.

In 1486, in the “Hall of the Barons”, the epilogue of the famous conspiracy of the barons took place. Several nobles of the kingdom, led by Antonello II Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, and Francesco Coppola, Count of Sarno, plotted against King Ferdinand I, son of Alfonso. Sensed deception, the king invited them all in the room on the pretext of sealing the peace with a wedding banquet. The barons came all together, but the king, having ordered his soldiers to barricade the doors of the room, had them all arrested, then condemning many of them, including Coppola and sons, to death.[charme-gallery]

New Castle, during its centuries-long history, has been used several times as a residence to host renowned people who stayed in Naples as guests of the royal court or on official visit to the city. These include Giovanni Boccaccio, Giotto (who left traces of his presence in the pictorial cycle, largely now lost, of the Palatine Chapel) and Francesco Petrarca.

Ended its function as a “control center”, the Angevin Male, with its mighty towers, is currently intended for a cultural use and is, among other things, the seat of the Civic Museum of New Castle. The tour of the museum includes the Armoury Hall, the Palatine Chapel (also known as Santa Barbara), the first and second floor of the southern courtyard and finally the Carlo V Hall and the Lodge Hall designed to host exhibitions and cultural initiatives.

(transated by Mauro Di Fenza)

Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino) Municipal Museum

Piazza Municipio  – Napoli

open: from Monday to Saturday 9.00 – 19.00

ticket: euro 5.00 from 18 to 60 years old, free for othersone[charme-gallery]

L'articolo New Castle, the Male of stone guardian of Naples. proviene da Charme.