The enchanted Castle

The enchanted castle is located in the western part of Sciacca. It is a sort of garden with mysterious faces that Filippo Bentivegna has carved into the rocks. Filippo Bentivegna has done nothing but create over 3000 faces for over 50 years. The story of his life is unusual and extravagant. He was born in Sciacca on May 3, 1888 into a large and modest family. Bentivegna was visually impaired, but showed great skill in creating the sculptures by hand.

Due to economic problems he had to work very early and was unable to go to school. In 1908, at the age of 20,

he enlisted in the navy, until 1912. Returning to Sciacca, he did not find work and left for America.

During this time he fell in love with an American girl and had a fight with her rival, where he was severely hit on the head. This fatal blow buried his mind and changed his character.

With the money he earned in America, he bought a small farm where he spent the rest of his life painting and sculpting rocks and trees.
His sculptures are all different and represent known and unknown characters to whom he gives a name and who in his imagination represent the subjects of his kingdom, which he had created and of which he was “King”. He likes to be called “his excellence”. In the middle of the farm is the little house where he used to live: the walls are decorated with drawings representing the skyscrapers he had seen in America, as well as a big fish holding a small fish in its belly,

perhaps a symbol of the boat crossing that brought him to New York.
He particularly valued a work composed of heads that ended in a phallus, which he defined as “the key to the spell”.

When he didn’t make the money he wanted, he decided to go back to Sciacca. He bought a small area in the city and started working on faces. Bentivegna lived alone in his cave and cut off all social contacts. He called himself the “Lord of the Caves”. Bentivegna died in 1967 at the age of 78, leaving behind a whimsical work of art that is difficult to interpret.
Some sculptures by Filippo Bentivegna are kept in the “Museum of raw art” in Lausanne.