The fortified complex was built in the 1930s and completed in 1540 by the Pugliese architect Evangelista Menga for the Marquis Alfonso Granai Castriota, general of Charles V. The Renaissance building encloses previous buildings including the Angioine Emperor, an ancient defensive structure attributable to the first architectural structure. It is surrounded by a large moat, dug into the rocky counter and four powerful bastions and two marcapian cordons of the exterior architectural prospect that identify as many casamate orders, giving the complex a highly defensive function. The entrance is preannunced by the magnificent Renaissance portal. On the right, a portal with gable, enters a chapel dedicated to St. Mark's small, rectangular plan with barrel vault. Inside, on the two sides of the altar, the sarcophagi of the Marquis, succeeded by the Castriota, made by the gallician L.A. Russo in 1568 and the frescoes that the Squarciafico family, holders of 1557 of the castle, entrust the copertinese painter Gianserio Strafella And shop. The artist, active in Copertino from 1560 to 1577, decorates the environment with figures of saints and scenes from the Old and New Testaments.