Castelnovo di Sotto Fortress (Rocca di Castelnovo di Sotto)

The current appearance of the Rocca di Castelnovo di Sotto hides behind refined 18th-century facades a centuries-old history of building transformations that seem to originate from a primitive defensive structure already attested at the end of the 9th century.

The sequence of fortification works is linked to that of the lords of Castelnovo di Sotto, from the Canossan lineage, to the lordships of the Correggio, Visconti, Sforza and Este families, who in the late 17th century ceded the fortress and fief to the Gherardini family of Verona. The latter radically transformed the appearance that the fortress had acquired in the 14th century.

Having lost its military connotations, during the 18th century, the fortress took on the role of an elegant noble residence, overlooking a large park commissioned by Marquis Maurizio II Gherardini. The layout of the park, which remained incomplete with the advent of the Napoleonic era, resumed according to a new plan during the 19th century, assuming its current appearance only after recent restorations.