Castle of the Fortresses (Castello delle Rocche)

The beautiful Castello delle Rocche in Finale Emilia can be considered one of the most famous fortified buildings of the medieval House of Este, the result of an intricate sequence of construction phases culminating in the building campaign promoted by Nicolò III d’Este in the first half of the 15th century. During this period the 14th century layout was radically transformed, accommodating the defensive concepts of the time and the most modern residential requirements.

The castle, built along the southern bank of the waterway connecting Modena and Ferrara, was a strategic defensive stronghold, located on the border between the Bolognese and Este domains. The original structure straddled the defensive circuit that protected Finale Emilia and consisted of a quadrangular masonry enclosure with a keep (probably dating back to the 13th century) and a second tower of more modest dimensions that may have acted as a ravelin.

Between 1425 and 1436, the engineer and architect Giovanni da Siena demolished most of the earlier structures, sparing the keep which was further elevated, while elegant buildings were erected around a rectangular courtyard enclosed by four corner towers softened by trilobate corbels and dovetail battlements. In the shelter of the inner courtyard, Giovanni da Siena, probably mindful of the more archaic solution tested at the Rocca di Vignola, created the refined loggia arranged on three levels of arches which he would recreate a few years later on the external façade of the Castel Nuovo in Ferrara (no longer in existence).