Castle of Sant Aniceto

The Castle of Sant'Aniceto additionally San Niceto is a Byzantine castle constructed in the early 11^th century on a hill in Motta San Giovanni, now in the province of Reggio Calabria, southern Italy. It is one of the few examples of High Middle Ages architecture in Calabria, as well as one of the few well-preserved Byzantine fortifications within the world. The call derives from that of St. Nicetas, a Byzantine admiral who lived in the 7^th - 8^th centuries. The fortress became built as a refuge and a warning vicinity at some point of a duration in which the ravages of Saracen pirates on the Calabrian and Sicilian coasts were common.

When the Normans conquered southern Italy, the structure was enlarged, with the addition of rectangular towers. In the thirteenth century the castle became the command middle of the flourishing fief of Sant'Aniceto,which included Motta San Giovanni and Montebello. Two centuries later, entered in warfare with Reggio Calabria, and in 1459 it became destroyed with the aid of Alfonso of Calabria.