Maniace

The Castello di Maniace[3] (aliter Castello Bronte and Castello dei Nelson ("Castle of the Nelsons")) is a manor house built on the site of a former ancient monastery 1 km east of the centre of the small village of Maniace and 5 km north of the large town of Bronte, on the eastern foothills of Mount Etna. From 1799 to 1981 it was the seat of the Dukes of Bronte, English noblemen, the first of whom was Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758-1805), in 1799 created Duke of Bronte by King Ferdinand III of Sicily and Naples. In 1981 the manor house and large estate was sold to the Commune of Bronte by Alexander Hood, 4th Viscount Bridport (born 1948), 7th Duke of Bronte, descended from the daughter of William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson (1757-1835) 2nd Duke of Bronte, elder brother and heir of Admiral Nelson.

It is not to be confused with Castello Maniace in the City of Syracuse, Sicily, a truly defensive castle situated 102 km to the south-east, built between 1232 and 1240 by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, on the site of a previous fort built by the Byzantine Greek General George Maniakes after he defeated the Arabs in 1038.[4]

The Castello di Maniace is situated on the left bank of the River Saraceno on the site of the former Benedictine Abbey Of Santa Maria of Maniace, built in 1174 by the Norman William II of Sicily ("The Good"), King of Sicily from 1166 to 1189 (seated at Palermo) and husband of Princess Joan of England (1165-1199), a daughter of King Henry II (1154-1189) of England. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary (Santa Maria), by the express wish of his mother Queen Margaret of Navarre, in memory of the great Battle of Maniace in 1040,[5] won near the site by Giorgio Maniace against the Arabs.

The nave and magnificent West Door (main entrance) of the ancient Norman-style (called Romanesque in Italy) monastic church, dedicated to Santa Maria, survives with part of the cloister, as one side of the rectangular courtyard of the manorial buildings, in the centre of which survives an ancient stone well.[6] The former apse, chancel and transept tower of the church (roughly the entire eastern half) is missing, believed to have collapsed during the terrible earthquake of 1693,[7] with the site partly built over later by a new granary building in which the foundations of the triple apse were recently discovered. Since 1981 the granary building has been converted by the Council of Bronte into a conference hall.

The church with the other adjoining manorial buildings were restored and reconstructed in 1800 on the order of Admiral Neson, 1st Duke of Bronte, who never set foot on his estate, having been killed 5 years later in heroic circumstances during the Battle of Trafalgar.