Pala Castle, San Vittore

Pala Castle occupies two large rock blocks above San Vittore, forming a compact, vertically arranged complex. The layout consists of two separate towers on a small terrace, set roughly three metres apart across a deep rock fissure that was once crossed by a bridge; access to the compound was by a timber gallery from the north leading to an entrance placed above the cleft.

The larger northern tower is a rectangular defensive keep of six storeys built of granite masonry, with a footprint of about five by eight metres and stone walls up to around 1.5 metres thick. Regular beam sockets in the masonry mark the floors of the lower four storeys, while a barrel vault forms the fifth storey and gives access to the top level and the battlement walk. The lower levels retain narrow arrow-slit openings and the upper levels retain pointed-arch windows. Large beam holes and a doorway opening in the south wall indicate a former wooden gallery around the fifth storey. Several built latrines survive, with one facility in the third storey and another installation or hopper stone in the fifth, together with a drain and wall niches. The tower once had a gabled roof over its battlements; the stone shell remains standing today and has been given a modern protective roof.

On the lower, southern rock block lie the remains of a rectangular residential range of roughly four by seven metres, interpreted as a two-storey living tract. Its eastern gable and the original entrance survive in a recognisable state, but much of the southern structure has collapsed and its interior cannot be entered. Around the towers there is evidence that a short ring wall once enclosed a small courtyard with a few outbuildings, and economic structures were likely located at the foot of the rock where there was room for yards and service buildings.