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The Castle
The complex named Nelson Dukedom, is at 13 Km from Bronte
placed on flat land alongside the left bank of the torrent Saraceno.
Comprises the noble wing, once residence of the Nelson (the Castle)
now changed in a Museum, the remains of the ancient Benedictine Abbey,
dedicated to the Very Holy Mary, built by Guglielmo II° the Buono,
the little church of Holy Mary Of Maniace and a large, very lush park.
Was built around the 1173,
probably over the ruins of a pre-existent Basilian construction, as
wanted by the queen Margherita, in everlasting memory of the
victory in battle of Giorgio Maniace against the Saracens.
 As
it was usual at the time, the monastery had a castle or defensive
tower.
Guglielmo di Blois was the first abbey of the monastery.
The abbey, for the obtained privileges had some considerable income
and, as for all feuds, participated to the Royal Curia.
In the centuries following the founding went through hard times: was
reduced in a miserable state by the "commendatory" (the last
"commendable" abbey was the cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, future
pope Alessandro VI, "of wicked and inauspicious memory"), all
properties were squandered and the unhealthy state of the areas
accelerated considerably the depopulation of the nearby
farms.
At the end of the XV
century the abbey, with all his land, became property of
The Big and New Hospital of Palermo, until 1799 when
was given by Ferdinando III to
Admiral Horatio Nelson for having repressed the Neapolitan
republic.
The earthquake that on 11 January 1693 hit eastern
Sicily, destroyed also several parts of the monastery.
The seism hit particularly the structures facing east and destroyed
the large defense tower adjacent to the church apse, knocking down
other dilapidated parts.
The Basilian fathers, that conducted the monastery at the time, were
forced to leave it and move to Bronte (guest to the church of
San Blandano, with permission to build around it a small
monastery).
In the new locality, the Benedictine monks brought all their worship
objects, their relics and kept calling themselves "of Santa Maria di Maniace" (their last abbey
was Brother Giacomo Cimbali in 1900-1904).
Today,
of the ancient Benedictine settlement, remain the Nelson Castle (with
the Museum, the garden and the Park), the ruins of
the old abbey and the Chiesa di Santa Maria di Maniace.
The building complex has become property
of the Council of Bronte from the 4th of September 1981;
has been recently restructured wit one section used as Museum (the
Duke' apartments) and as a center of studies and congress (the old granaries).
The planimetric scheme
is
the final result of the permanent settling of the Nelson,
from 1799 to 1981.
The restructuration, transformation and the enlarging
of the ancient abbey to a sumptuous, noble residence was started
already by Horatio Nelson, that did not have the time
or the luck to ever come to his Sicilian estate or to live in Bronte.
His heirs, instead, and their administrators, lived permanently,
till few decades ago, in the apartments changed now in Museum (the
first one was Charlotte Nelson-Bridport, daughter of the rev. William
the admiral brother, married to Samuel Hood, viscount of Bridport).
The Dukedom complex
 is
articulated as a ring-like plan with a square perimeter and
edifices with one or two floors, lined along outside fronts, that
look on the country and on two internal, rectangular courtyard.
The all thing, in its simplicity, looks majestic.
Two railings lead to the entry arcade and then to the courtyard
where there is the lava stone cross erected in memory of Orazio
Nelson.
Laterally, to the right, leads to the interesting late-Norman
church of Santa Maria and to the square courtyard with
lava stone well, around which, originally were the small work
rooms, the stores, the stables and the granary.
On the first floor, to the left, there were the noble apartments
of the Nelson, now used as a museum.
Outside the complex can be
seen the ruins of two small towers,
part of the defensive system of the abbey.
The park
A large park, that covers, internally and externally, about four hectares, enriches
the Castle.
From the first courtyard it is possible to visit the English
garden, wanted by the Nelson: covers about five
thousand square meters and enjoys the presence of centuries-old,
local and exotic plants (cypress, palms, willow trees,
ash trees, horse chestnuts, magnolias), an English green lawn
bordered by wisteria, roses, flowers and various plants.
Opposite the entry there is a lush park,
divided by a central path that, between the majestic plane
trees and eucalyptus, holds an
open air museum of
lava stone sculptures.
The park-museum is open to the public and is regularly
visited by scholars, students and cultural and tourist operators.
In the park can be seen the ruins of the farmers village, called "Borgo
Caracciolo" and built from 1941 to 1944 by the Italian state
(the Dukedom had been then seized) and demolished in 1964 by
Nelson the bulldozers.
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”Nelson’s castle”. In the in the close up photo above, the windows
of the old ducal apartments look over the delicious internal
garden. Below you can see the two large internal courtyards; in
the centre of the one on the right there is the Celtic cross
dedicated to Nelson. (Photo G. Basile) |
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The entrance to the Nelson Dukedom. The
word “Castle” can somewhat confuse the visitor as it refers to a
seventeen century palace with a solemn, covered portico leading to a
courtyard in the centre of a complex dominated by a Celtic style basalt
cross. This is the only memento in honour of admiral Nelson with this
writing to its base: Eroi Immortali Nili |
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The entry to the botanic garden of the Duke with the windows of the noble
apartments. |
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The park in front of the Castle and one of the lava stone sculpture of the
Open Air Sculpture
Museum. |
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The english cemetery
The small English cemetery, near the Castle, was built in
1898 for the Nelson family and its administrator.
It represents the only property in Bronte still belonging to the Nelson and it
has been given in concession to the Maniace municipality that wants to manage it
for cultural and tourist purposes.
The writing at the entry reads: “Nobisque vobisque pax”.
The Nelson’s small cemetery has eight graves, Besides the ones of the dukes and
other noble Englishmen, there also lies the poet William Sharp (a delicate
exponent of English Romanticism, Paisley, Scotland 1855- Maniace 12/12/1905),
who died during his stay in the duchy, guest of
the 5th duke Alexander Nelson
Hood.
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1) Rowland Artur Herbert Nelson Hood (4th
duke of Bronte, diseased the 25th of July 1969; In front of his tomb lies his
beloved dog Hugo);
2) Alexander Nelson Hood (5th duke of Bronte, diseased the 1st of
June, 1937 in his Taormina’s villa) and Rosa Penelope (his sister, diseased the
17th of March 1922). When, the 27th of April 1948, the Nelson’s villa of Taormina was sold to the Count Marzotto, the corpses of the duke and his sister
were brought and buried in Maniace; the gravestone and the monumental cross (in
which was written PEACE) were also brought form Taormina to Maniace.
3) Victor Alberto Nelson Hood
(1862 - 1922), the 5th duke’s brother for
years helped his brother to manage the duchy.
4) Richard Forsyth Gray, major and the duchy’s administrator, born the 27th of July 1881,
died the 29th of July 1928.
5) Charles Beek, born the 16th January 1859, died the 6th May 1917, for
26 years was a faithful duchy’s administrator.
6) William Tredgold, loyal servant of the 4th duke Alexander Nelson Hood.
7) William Sharp, Scottish poet, born the 12th of September 1855, died
suddenly in the Maniace Castle the 12th of December 1905.
8) Hedwin Hughes, general administrator of the duchy, diseased the 2nd of
December 1922.
In the cemetery are buried also three people who had nothing to do with the
duchy: Montagna Capucciello Sebastiano who died for the exsplosion of a mine,
and in a single grave the two brothers Antonio and Carmelo Bontempo who died the
10th of August 1943, because of a bomb dropped by an English plane over a hamlet
at S. Andrea. (In that occasion some other Brontesi also died).
The seven dukes of Bronte
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