Castel Nuovo (Italian: [kaˌstɛl ˈnwɔːvo]; Neapolitan: Castiello Nuovo; 'New Castle'), often called Maschio Angioino (Italian: [ˈmaskjo andʒoˈiːno]; Neapolitan: Maschio Angiuino; 'Angevin Keep'), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall (Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy.

The construction of its former nucleus -today partly re-emerged following restoration and archaeological exploration work- is due to the initiative of Charles I of Anjou, who in 1266, defeated the Hohenstaufens, ascended to the throne of Sicily and established the transfer of the capital from Palermo to the city of Naples.

This relationship between the royal court and town planning had already manifested itself with Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who in the 13th century, in the Swabian statute had concentrated greater attention on castles neglecting the city walls.

[1] The royal residence of Naples had been until then the Castel Capuano, but the Norman ancient fortress was judged as inadequate to the function and the king wanted to build a new castle near the sea.

However, the king never lived there: following the War of the Sicilian Vespers, which cost to the House of Anjou the crown of Sicily, conquered by Peter III of Aragon and other events, the new palace remained unused until 1285, the year of the death of Charles I.

During his reign the Holy See was particularly linked to the House of Anjou, in a turbulent relationship, which also in the following years will be marked by pressure, alliances and continuous ruptures.

On December 13 of 1294 the Main Hall of the Castel Nuovo was the scene of the famous abdication of Pope Celestine V (the hermit Pietro da Morrone), from the papal throne, called by Dante Alighieri the great refusal and the following December 24, in the same hall the board of cardinals elected Benedetto Caetani, who assumed the name of Pope Boniface VIII and immediately moved its headquarters to Rome to avoid the interference of the Anjevin family.

[1] With the ascent to the throne of Robert, King of Naples, in 1309, the castle, which he renovated and expanded, became a remarkable center of culture, because to his patronage and his passion for the arts and literature: the Castel Nuovo hosted important personalities of the culture of the time, such as the writers Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio in their Neapolitan stays, while the most famous painters of the time that they were called to paint its walls: Pietro Cavallini, Montano d'Arezzo, and above all Giotto, who in 1332 painted the Palatine Chapel.

The queen, depicted as a dissolute, lustful, bloody woman, would have hosted in her alcove lovers of all kinds and social backgrounds, even rounded up by her emissaries among young, handsome people.

Precisely for this purpose it has been narrated for centuries that the queen had a secret trapdoor inside the castle: her lovers, having exhausted their task, were thrown into this well and devoured by sea monsters.

The five round towers, four of which incorporated the previous Anjevin construction with a square plan, suitable to support the blows of the guns of the time, reiterated the defensive role of the castle.

The importance of the palace as a center of royal power was instead emphasized by rebuilding the Main Gate in a Triumphal Arc shape, a masterpiece of the Neapolitan Renaissance architecture and work of Dalmatian Francesco Laurana, together with many artists of various origins.

Renovated for the last time in 1823 by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, it later hosted the "artillery arsenal" and a "pyrotechnic office" which in 1837 estimated to be more prudent transfer of the guns factory of the Torre Annunziata.

In the 1920s was made the wide range of flower gardens that ran along the Maschio Angioino until the end-20th century: in the early months of 1921 Count Pietro Municchi, an engineer then councilor of urban decor, presented to the City Council the proposal for the isolation of the Castel Nuovo.

Only the door of the citadel was saved, the original Aragonese access to the complex, rebuilt in 1496 by Frederick of Naples (as evidenced by its emblem on the arch): isolated and distorted of its function, is visible among the flower garden square along Via Vittorio Emanuele III.

The Castel Nuovo, in the course of its history, has been used several times as a temporary residence to host illustrious personalities who went to Naples as guests of the royal court or on an official visit.

The castle most of it reconstructed by Alfonso V of Aragon has an irregularly trapezoidal plan and was defended by five large cylindrical towers, four covered with piperno and one with tuff, and crowned with merlons on brackets.

The castle is surrounded by a moat and the towers rise on large embankments, in which the texture of the stone blocks takes on complex designs, recalling Catalan Majorcan examples.

The sculptors included Isaia da Pisa, Merliano, Domenico Gagini, Andrea Fiorentino, a pupil of Donatello, and Silvestro dell'Aquila.

[11] Passing under this arch we enter the piazza by the Bronze Gates, executed by the monk Guglielmo of Naples, and representing in various compartments the victories of Ferdinand I over the Duke of Anjou and the rebellious barons.

The façade on the inner courtyard has a Renaissance portal with reliefs by Andrea dell'Aquila and by Francesco Laurana and a rose window, rebuilt in the Aragonese period by the Catalan Matteo Forcimanya to replace the one of the 14th-century destroyed by an earthquake.

Inside, illuminated by tall and narrow Gothic windows, there are only few remains of the original frescoed decoration, the work of Maso di Banco and a ciborium of Iacopo della Pila, dated to the end-15th century.

The content of this cycle of frescoes is almost entirely lost even if there remains a decorative part in the windows reminiscent of those of the Bardi Chapel of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.

The frescoes depicted the illustrious men and women of antiquity: Samson, Hercules, Solomon, Paris, Hector, Achilles, Aeneas, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, with their "companions".

Access to this position of the hall was possible through the helical scale (Catalan staircase) in piperno and in tuff stone, located in the adjacent Tower of Beverello and also built by Guillem Sagrera, during the works that affected the whole royal environment.

On the high altar, there is a canvas painted by a follower of Girolamo Imparato and Giovann'Angelo D'Amato, depicting the Madonna del Carmine virgin with the purging souls and the Saints Sebastian and Pope Gregory I.

[2] Inside the Castel Nuovo there is a museum itinerary inaugurated in 1990 which starts from the 14th-century Palatine Chapel, passing through the Armory Room up to the first and second level of the castle, the latter destined for painting and sculpture.

The library contains one of the first books printed in Italy (the fourth), the De civitate Dei of Augustine of Hippo made in June 1467 at Subiaco by two German clerics : Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim.