Italy · 12th century
Castel dell'Ovo ("Egg Castle") is a seafront castle in Naples, located on the former island of Megaride, now a peninsula, on the Gulf of Naples in Italy. The castle's name comes from a legend about the Roman poet Virgil, who had a reputation in the Middle Ages as a great sorcerer and predictor of the future. In the legend, Virgil put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications. It remains there along with his bones, and had this egg been broken, the castle would have been destroyed and a series of disastrous events for Naples would have followed. The castle is located between the districts of San Ferdinando and Chiaia, facing Mergellina across the sea.
Text adapted from “Castel dell'Ovo” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castel dell'Ovo ranks #260 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #19 of the 560 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1150, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 17,799 times in the last 60 days, more than 97% of the atlas. 23 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Naples, 1 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.
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