Castello di Las Plassas

Castello di Las Plassas stands above the comune of Las Plassas in Italy and was constructed during the giudicale period by the authorities of the Kingdom of Arborea.

The fortification existed before 1172 and served as one of Arborea’s border strongholds, positioned to control approaches across the surrounding territory. In 1172 the castle was given in pledge to the Republic of Genoa, a documented transfer that shows its early strategic and political value.

At the end of the thirteenth century the complex underwent a major rebuilding during the reign of Mariano II of Arborea, a campaign that represents the most substantial phase of construction recorded for the site. The castle continued to figure in regional power struggles through the late Middle Ages.

During the war between Arborea and the Kingdom of Sardinia under the Crown of Aragon the stronghold played a primary strategic role. After the Battle of Sanluri in 1409 the castle passed definitively into Aragonese hands as part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. It remained in use for a little more than a century following 1409 and was then abandoned permanently, falling into ruin until modern interventions.

The conical, breast-shaped hill on which the castle stands gave its name, Marmilla, first to an Arborean administrative district and later to the wider surrounding territory and geographic subregion. In 2000 the ruin underwent a major consolidation and archaeological excavations were carried out by the Soprintendenza archeologica delle provincie di Cagliari e Oristano; finds from those campaigns are displayed in the municipal multimedia museum, MudA.