The architecture of the medieval castle

The castle fulfilled various functions over time and this led to major changes in its architecture. At first it was designed as a defensive castle, organised around a parade ground where the different rooms were located and surrounded by a perimeter wall with two defence towers.

In the late Middle Ages, the building became a castle-palace with a clear residential function. It was characterised by the enlargement of the large noble halls and the use of Gothic-style decorative elements, distributed together with the bedrooms on the upper floors, with the stables, kitchen and wine cellar on the ground floor.As for the walls, there are three successive enclosures that gradually adapted to the growth of the complex. The first wall, that of the original castle, represents the walls of the castle itself. The second wall, from the 12^th-13^th century, was extended to the area of the church, and the third enclosure, with a larger surface area, was built at the foot of the ravine.