Castello Pignatelli della Leonessa, Norman castle in San Martino Valle Caudina, Italy.

Castello Pignatelli della Leonessa is a Norman fortress in San Martino Valle Caudina featuring defensive walls, towers, and a central courtyard surrounding the residential palace complex. The structure sits at approximately 370 meters elevation and blends defensive architecture with the living quarters of an aristocratic family.

The fortress was built during the Norman period and came under the ownership of the Lagonesse family in 1343, who later adopted the name della Leonessa. This name change marked the beginning of their long-lasting authority in the region across several centuries.

The name della Leonessa comes from Giovanni Lagonesse, a member of a French family that arrived in southern Italy with Charles of Anjou and bought the fief in 1343. The family held San Martino until 1528, when Fabio della Leonessa was dispossessed for siding with King Francis I of France, and recovered it in 1560. They became dukes of San Martino in 1627.

The only way in is a single entrance on the south-east side, reached by a paved lane climbing from the alleys of the village. Inside, a stone portal with a protected balcony above it opens onto an enclosed courtyard; the family chapel stands to the right of the portal, the palace opposite. The site is on a hilltop, so the approach is uphill.

The private chapel, possibly built with the castle, was consecrated in 1706 by Benevento archbishop Vincenzo Maria Orsini, later Pope Benedict XIII. Above the palace door, the slot that housed a falling portcullis is still visible; attackers trapped in the walled courtyard between the two gates could be hit from above with stones and boiling oil.