In 1340 King Peter II of Sicily had given Raimondo Peralta terram Alcami et prefatum castrum Bonifati, without any mention about the castle;[2] in fact, it is quoted, for the first time, in a diploma dated 1391.

[2] The construction of the castle was started by the Peralta family at about 1340 and was finished in 1350, under the feudatories Enrico and Federico Chiaramonte;[3] it was a mansion and a defensive structure until the 16th century.

[2] In 1392 king Martino and his wife were hosted in the castle after the Chiaramontes' defeat,[3] and on September 1, 1535[1][3] the emperor Carlo V, during his return from his Tunis victory, lodged in one of its towers with his court and the infanta Eleonora d'Aragona.

[1] After the last restorations (made between 2000 and 2010), it has been used as the seat of the Ethnographic Museum and of the Historical Regional Vintage Wines Stock.

[3] At the corners there are four battlemented towers (two square and two circular shaped[1]), each of them with a particular function, that is: On the castle sides there are double and triple lancet windows of Gothic-Catalan derivation.