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Origin and history

The castle of Fitou, located on a site overlooking the village, the ponds of Leucate and the sea, is mentioned as early as 990 in the will of the Viscountess Adelaide of Narbonne. The latter then bequeathed the villa of Fitou to Ermengaud de Narbonne, whose family, bearing the title of lords of Treilles and Casouls, extended its influence over a territory of more than three thousand hectares. The site, designated as a castrum as early as 1271, became a strategic issue, often besieged and rebuilt during wars, especially during conflicts with Spain or during the crusade against the Cathars.

In the 12th century, the castle, of quadrilateral form, comprises a large vaulted room in cradle, pierced short archères covered with slabs, and external defenses today arased. Its walls, made of local blue limestone with white stone angle chains, also house a round tower and two vaulted casemates. The site has many seats: in 1503, the Duke ofAlbe set fire to it after its capture; In 1635, the Spaniards, with 14,000 men, took no resistance. The family of Aragon remained lord until the Revolution.

After 1789, the castle was looted and burned in 1843, then served as a stone quarry to build the village. Ranked a historic monument in 1948, it was bought in 1972 by Parisian antique dealers, the Gaillot spouses, who undertook an approximate restoration. Transformed into a discotheque and then a museum, it was sold in 2015 and no longer accessible to the public. Its ruins, inscribed at natural sites since 1942, bear witness to a turbulent history, between military conflicts and successive reuses.

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