Overview
Two juxtaposed buildings make up 'the Castle', as the Rocca is commonly called. The higher of the two - with a polygonal plan and barbican, ogival mullioned windows and a corbelled crown - is in fact the actual fortress, while the lower had been the seat of the papal governors in the city until the end of the 16th century: hence the overall name Rocca dei Rettori. Part of the double building had been rebuilt after the 1702 earthquake, when the fortress had already been used as a prison for a long time - from the 16th century, but then later until the years of Italian Unification. It was then the original seat of the Sannio Museum while today, it houses exhibition rooms on the history of the area and is the seat of the Province.
In the Palazzo del Governo, which marks the right-hand side of Corso Garibaldi in the last stretch, before it ends at the Rocca, there is a museum called ArCos, with works of contemporary art and artefacts of ancient Egyptian art: this is not an extemporaneous collection, because it was here in the Roman Beneventum that the Emperor Domitian had a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. After all, it is only one of the many unique features of Benevento.
