Castillo de La Calahorra
Castle · Granada
Checked
One of the first Italian Renaissance castles built anywhere outside Italy went up here between 1509 and 1512, on the remains of a Moorish fortress. Screen crews have used it since: Jim MacLaine's retreat in the 1974 film Stardust, and a manse in Pentos for House of the Dragon.
Rodrigo de Mendoza, marqués del Zenete, commissioned the castle after a trip to Italy reshaped what he wanted from the building, and it went up between 1509 and 1512 on the remains of an earlier Moorish fortress. He brought in the architect Lorenzo Vázquez and the Genoese sculptor Michele Carlone, along with Carrara marble shipped over from Italy, to build the courtyard and staircase inside. The style was still rare in Spain at the time, years ahead of the Italian classical fashion reaching the country's other palaces and churches. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural monument in 1922.
What you see
Grey stone walls and corner towers give nothing away from outside; inside, a colonnaded courtyard in Carrara marble holds an Italian-style staircase at the heart of the fortress.
Practical
Visits run as a 30-minute guided tour, in Spanish and sometimes English.
castlerenaissance architecturefilm location