THE LADISLAO II D’AQUINO CASTLE IN ROCCHETTA SANT’ ANTONIO IN FOGGIA. Typical example among the Castles of Daunia in the Aragonese period.

THE LADISLAO II D’AQUINO CASTLE IN ROCCHETTA SANT’ ANTONIO IN FOGGIA. Typical example among the Castles of Daunia in the Aragonese period. In June 1458, after Alfonso I death, the kingdom of Aragon, Sicily and Sardinia passed to his brother John II of Aragon. At the same time the Kingdom of Naples was assigned to Ferdinand I, Alfonso I natural son. He and his son Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, built a total reorganization of the Kingdom of Naples. This happened thanks to highly detailed plans of work, programs to modernize the defense system and a new road network aimed at both the troops moving and artillery fast transport. The schedule began from the capital and was virtually extended to the whole territory. It was a defense system to strengthen not only a city but the entire region. Where the threat of the enemy was looming, a strongholds network was provided for the kingdom defense. The realization of these new defensive structures led to the modernization of the entire territory. These military facilities for the protection of the city were increased by a network of towers, castles and fortified villages, distributed throughout the Kingdom from the hinterland to the coast and connected by an efficient system of optical signals. An innovative idea of total defense and control of the territory was born and raised thanks to the creation of fortification system for all the frontier cities from mainland to coast. Almost certainly, at this time, Francesco di Giorgio Martini was invited at Ferdinand I. As we said, in Puglia imposing fortification have been organized along the border of a vast territory. More precisely, this borderland between the Principato Ulteriore and Capitanata, was stretched from the basin of the Ofanto river to all the Subapennino Dauno.