Castello Ruspoli di Torella dei Lombardi

The Ruspoli Castle is situated at the summit of Torella dei Lombardi, a municipality in the province of Avellino, situated at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level on a rocky outcrop.
The area's strategic position has resulted in its occupation since the Middle Ages.
The initial construction of the castle is believed to have occurred in 850 AD, when the Lombards erected a wooden fortification along the border between the principality of Salerno and that of Benevento.

During the Norman period, the castle underwent a series of renovations, including the addition of a cylindrical stone tower on a sandstone bank. This tower was constructed using two distinct techniques: opus cementicium and opus incertum, which were employed in accordance with the architectural traditions of the Roman era. In the aftermath of the 1466 earthquake, two cylindrical towers with a scarp base were constructed, incorporating the previous quadrangular structures.
From 1550, the feudal Caracciolo family took possession of it. The latter transformed the castle into a sumptuous aristocratic residence during the four centuries in which they owned it.

With the death of Giuseppe V Caracciolo, Prince of Candriano, the manor passed to his nephew Camillo Ruspoli, son of his sister Laura. It belonged to this family, from which it takes its name, until 1959 when it was donated to the town of Torella dei Lombardi by Terry Margherita Blanc, Camillo's widow.
Rebuilt following the earthquake of 23 November 1980, it is currently the seat of the municipality and the Turella Parva Turris Civic Museum, which houses the artefacts found in the castle during the archaeological investigations conducted between 1993 and 1997.Its five rooms display kitchen artefacts from the medieval and modern periods, coins and an artillery shell.
Noteworthy are the enamelled ceramics from the 17th and 18th centuries, including plates decorated with the coat of arms of the Caracciolo family with a shield banded in gold and a head in blue.