Italy auctions off Holy Roman Emperor’s castle to tackle public debt

Naples: The palatial complex near Naples tops the list of 33 sites owned or managed by the defence ministry to be sold in November.

The sale has sparked fury from the FAI, Italy’s equivalent to the national trust, which is asking for the castle to be given Unesco World Heritage protection.

“We should protect our cultural assets, they are vital,” Dante Specchia, an architect who heads the FAI’s Caserta branch, told The Telegraph.

“Depriving the public of a jewel like the Charles V castle should not be debatable.”

The Capua castle, built between 1522 and 1543, is considered a masterpiece of military architecture and was strategically significant for Charles V whose sprawling empire once stretched across Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy.

But unlike the nearby 18th-century Royal Palace of Caserta, which is now a major tourist attraction laden with sumptuous furnishings, the Capua castle has been stripped bare over the centuries.

It was turned into a prison in the 19th century, before being used more recently for the manufacture and storage of military explosives.

Other properties on the defence ministry list include palaces and villas across Florence, Padua and Taranto, various army barracks and warehouses, and three magnificent lighthouses to be sold in a separate sale.

The properties, which are currently used by the army, air force and navy, are said to have a market value of €240 million (£205 million) but could fetch much more at auction.

The ministry said the properties would be sold under concession for 50 years and it was looking for “proposals aimed at the redevelopment, enhancement and economic management of its real estate assets”.

The Capua castle has been designated for potential tourism and hospitality development.

Mr Specchia said Giorgia Meloni’s administration had missed an opportunity to use EU funds – under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan – to save the Capua castle and protect Italy’s other cultural sites.

Located 25 miles north of Naples, the castle at Capua was vital for the defence of the Appian Way, a key thoroughfare since the Roman Empire, and of two city gates – one leading north to Rome and the other south to Naples.

Today the long-neglected castle is in need of major refurbishment. Apart from a large courtyard and a small chapel, it looks more like a military barracks than a luxury residence fit for an emperor.

Inside its walls, little remains of the original features or furnishings, while weeds sprout from cracks in the stone walls.