Colombaia Castle, Medieval fortress at western port, Italy

Colombaia Castle is a fortress built on a small island just off the port of Trapani, in Sicily. Its main tower has an irregular, roughly octagonal plan with several internal levels, and the outer walls follow the natural shape of the island with pointed bastions.

According to Diodorus Siculus, the Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca built the first military structure here around 260 BC, during the First Punic War. In 241 BC the Roman consul Numerius Fabius Buteo took the islet in a single night. The keep was raised under the Aragonese around 1280, and Charles V turned it into a fortress against Barbary raids. The Bourbons made it a prison after 1821; it closed in 1965.

The name Colombaia is a calque of the Greek name of the islet, Peliàdes, from πέλεια, dove (Columba livia); hence the alternative name Torre Peliade. After the Roman conquest the tower was left abandoned and became a dove nest, the birds having been used for messages. It was probably then a seat of the pagan cult of Venus Ericina, whose sacred animal was the dove.

The castle sits on an island and can only be reached by boat from Trapani harbor, so it is worth checking sea conditions before planning a visit. Trips are short, and going on a day with calm water makes for a more comfortable crossing and better views of the tower from the water.

The octagonal tower rises 32 metres over four stacked levels; the original entrance was on the second floor, and the ground floor held a cistern. On the outer wall a plaque placed in 1671 by viceroy Claudio Lamoraldo, Prince of Ligny, is still legible. The island is abandoned and all entrances are walled up, so the structure is seen from the water.