The Castle of Copertino , a fortified building that stands out in its genre both for its monumental size and for its structural typology, represents an important example of Renaissance military architecture in Puglia. The original nucleus of the complex can be identified in the keep, attributable to the military reorganization program promoted by Charles I of Anjou , who in 1266 elevated Copertino to the administrative seat of the county. In the thirties of the sixteenth century the Marquis Alfonso Granai Castriota, general of Charles V and feudal lord of the County, started the modernization of the castle, entrusting the work to the Apulian architect Evangelista Menga. The Menga incorporated the pre-existing structures into a quadrangular plan crowned by four mighty corner bastions and surrounded by a large moat. In 1557 the manor was bought by the Genoese Squarciafico family; from these it then passed to the Pinelli, Pignatelli and, in the nineteenth century, to the Granito di Belmonte. In 1885 the Castle was declared a National Monument and in 1956 it was acquired by the State Property. its bulk the Angevin keep. The entrance is announced by the sumptuous Renaissance portal, whose decorations, consisting of a series of rose windows, panoplies , bas -reliefs and medallions , constitute a note of prestigious wealth. The internal courtyard is overlooked by structures from different eras, including the small chapel dedicated to San Marco; inside this there are the sarcophagi of the Squarciafico marquises, owners of the castle since 1557 and patrons of the cycle of frescoes that decorate the room, by the painter from Cover Gianserio Strafella. In the parade ground there is a well and a portico, built later, with the coat of arms of the Pinelli-Pignatelli family, the stables and the galleries of the Angevin age.An uncovered staircase leads to the upper floor, where the fourteenth-sixteenth century rooms are located of the so-called "old palace", residence of the barons. Halfway up the ramp opens the Chapel of the Magdalene , with the remains of a frescoed pictorial cycle dating back to the first half of the fifteenth century . of the military technique and the events that affected the territory between the Middle Ages and the modern age , intertwining with the history of the different families that succeeded each other in the possession of the Coperinese fief.The frescoed cycles of the two chapels, the late Gothic one in the chapel of the Maddalena and the Renaissance one, with figures of saints and scenes from the Old and New Testament , in the chapel of San Marco.In the rooms of the Castle are also kept valuable archaeological materials from the seizures of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of the Carabinieri and a small collection of Russian sacred icons and Albanians . The breadth and articulation of the interior spaces allow the setting up of temporary exhibitions and the organization of cultural events and congresses.