The Fortress of Reggiolo (La Rocca di Reggiolo)

During the 13th century, the Municipality of Reggio spent a considerable amount of resources fortifying Reggiolo Castle with the aim of making it a bridgehead for the defence of its northern borders. It was precisely the high strategic value of the site, located near the right bank of the River Po, that made it a key target for conquest by Mantua. By the beginning of the 14th century, the castle had already passed to the Gonzaga family, who held it until the late 18th century, when for a brief period it became part of the Este State.

The configuration of the fortress, which is the result of a sequence of late-medieval transformations, revolves around the mighty central tower with a quadrangular plan, isolated within a quadrilateral courtyard punctuated by high crenelated curtains with towers placed at the apexes and open towards the interior of the complex. In the centre of the southern side is an ogival portal surmounted by a sixth tower that does not protrude from the line of the curtain wall. Of particular interest is the morphological comparison between the two corner towers placed at the apexes of the southern side, which share a projecting quadrangular plan, and the two placed at the corners of the northern side, which feature rounded external corners with quadrilateral plans rotated by 45°.