The Wikipedia article below indicates this castle served as a prison from first half of the 19th century until 1969.
Wikipedia (
visit link) as translated by Google informs us:
"The Charles V castle of Monopoli is a sixteenth-century fortress built during the Spanish domination of the city.
Charles V Castle in Monopoli (Italy)
It was built on a small promontory (called Punta Pinna), using the 10th century church of "S.Nicola in Pinna" as its central nucleus and a large Roman gate from the 1st century BC. (fortified by two lateral guardhouses with two floors), in turn raised on the Messapian walls of the 5th century BC. The archaeological excavations of the years 1990-2010 by the Archaeological Superintendency of Puglia have eliminated any doubts in this regard.
The work was completed under the supervision of the viceroy Don Pedro of Toledo, or according to other versions, by the Marquis Don Ferrante Loffredo.
In 1600 it was enlarged and restructured: the external physiognomy and internal composition was greatly modified, thus passing from a purely defensive structure to a residential one.
In the first half of the 19th century the castle became a district prison until 1969. Subsequently abandoned, it is now used (after undergoing major consolidation and restoration works in the nineties) as a venue for hosting important cultural events such as pictorial exhibitions, photographic and cinematic.
The structure
The simple plan of the castle is enriched by pentagonal bastions that rise at the five vertices. The drawbridge (and therefore the primary entrance) must have been located to the south-west where a cylindrical tower rises which was later built and can be reached via a small ramp.
To the left of the tower, a well-preserved part of the ancient walls is still visible. The numerous gunboats distributed from the shells to the surface of the water are well arranged, both inside and outside the port. The large "arms room" is suggestive. Under the loggia there is the stone coat of arms with the date 1552, and the name of the viceroy Don Pedro of Toledo, as already mentioned, the material creator of the building."