Castillo de Piedrabuena

En un regard

Le château en bref

Piedrabuena Castle stands on the southern slope of the Torrico de San Pedro, in the municipality of San Vicente de Alcántara, within a private estate. The seat of a commandery of the Order of Alcántara from the late thirteenth century, it guarded the frontier between the Tagus and the Guadiana alongside Alburquerque, Mayorga and Azagala. The successive commanders turned it into a true residence, which the town hall presents as the most splendid seigniorial fortress in Extremadura. A square barbican flanked by cylindrical turrets encloses a four-winged body built around a cloistered courtyard, dominated by a prismatic keep; open galleries to the south and east give it the air of a palace. Restored in the early twentieth century in a neo-Gothic style, it is one of the few castles in the region still inhabited. It belongs to a private owner and may be visited by appointment only.