Salvaterra Castle (Castello di Salvaterra)

The architectural events of Salvaterra Castle, already attested at the beginning of the 13th century, are linked to the history of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and of the noble families who held it as a fiefdom. These include the Fogliani family, who kept the castle until the Este affirmation at the beginning of the 15th century; it was later granted to the Ferrara nobleman Alberto della Sala and to the Boiardo family, who kept it until the end of the 18th century.

Although it has undergone extensive alteration and adaptation, the current appearance of the castle is not without some interesting architectural elements. The complex, largely built in brick, has a quadrangular plan centred on an inner courtyard, enclosed on the front of the southern structure by a series of blind arcades surmounted by an elegant loggia composed of seven buttressed arches supported by slender brick columns.

Of particular interest is the southern external façade, at the centre of which is the entrance portal with an arched terminus surmounted by a turret. Above the portal, traces of the bolzoni (protruding-arm winches) that regulated the drawbridge below are still visible, while the crownings to the right and left of the turret appear softened by an elegant sequence of hanging arches.