Italy · Partial ruin
Mategriffon
Mategriffon (Matagrifone, Rocca Guelfonia) was a medieval hilltop castle in Messina, Sicily, sited on a rocky promontory overlooking the harbour and Strait of Messina. It comprised a square central keep with surrounding curtain walls and polygonal towers; much of the complex was destroyed in the 1908 earthquake, leaving only an octagonal tower and fragments of bastions and an entrance.
First raised
1061
Its prime
1535
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1535
What Mategriffon looked like in its prime.
Perched on a rocky hill near the city centre and facing the Strait of Messina, the castle presents a compact, angular silhouette: a squat square central keep (described as a dungeon) surrounded by thick limestone curtain walls and ramparts, reinforced at intervals by polygonal stone towers including a distinctive octagonal tower. Sixteenth-century bastion works project from the walls, with a prominent 16th-century entrance; crenellated parapets and low rooflines define the skyline above the harbour.
Its story
The story of Mategriffon.
Mategriffon was first raised as a wooden fortress in 1061 by the Norman adventurer Robert Guiscard, Lord of Sicily, on a rocky hill commanding Messina's harbour and the Strait beyond. Its name — Matagrifone, "kill-Greeks" — reflected the predominantly Greek ancestry of the city's population.
The castle later passed to the Angevin dynasty. In the aftermath of the Sicilian Vespers, the royal vicar Herbert of Orleans and the supporters of King Charles I of Naples took refuge here, and the castle was besieged and damaged by the Messinese mob led by Alaimo da Lentini. Under the House of Aragon it became the residence of Queen Constance, consort of Peter III, who passed the time playing chess with a prisoner held there, the Tunisian emir Margam Ibn Sebir of Djerba.
Converted into a prison in the 19th century, the castle — a square keep with ramparts reinforced by polygonal towers — was destroyed in the 1908 earthquake. Only an octagonal tower still stands, incorporated into the 20th-century Shrine of Christ the King church that now dominates Messina's skyline.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1535.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Mategriffon — including 1 interior: square keep interior / dungeon. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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