Italy · Partial ruin
Canossa Castle
Castello di Canossa
Canossa Castle is a medieval hilltop fortress in Canossa, province of Reggio Emilia, northern Italy, best known as the site of the 1077 reconciliation between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. The stronghold was founded in the 10th century and in the Middle Ages was protected by multiple concentric defensive walls and housed a lord's residence, a Benedictine convent and the church of Sant'Apollonio. Today only fragmentary remains survive on the rocky summit.
First raised
950
Its prime
1077
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1077
What Canossa Castle looked like in its prime.
Perched on a steep rocky crag, the castle crown occupies the hilltop with a prominent rectangular stone keep rising above the summit; clusters of stone buildings and a small church sit close to the tower. The slopes are wooded and terraced, with a small hamlet and farm buildings below. In its prime the summit was enclosed by concentric stone curtain walls (triple line) with intermediate service buildings between the outer rings; masonry is pale grey local stone, surfaces roughly coursed.
Its story
The story of Canossa Castle.
Adalbert Atto Fortifies the Rock, around 940
The rocca was raised around 940 by Adalbert Atto, son of the Lombard nobleman Sigifredo of Lucca, on the summit of a rock in the Reggio Apennines. Alongside the lord's own residence the summit carried a monastery where twelve Cluniac Benedictine monks lived, and the church of Sant'Apollonio. Three concentric rings of wall defended it; the barracks of the armed men, the servants' quarters and the buildings of the settlement stood between the two lower circuits. Through the Middle Ages Canossa counted among the most formidable castles in Italy.
Adelaide's Refuge and Berengar's Siege, 950
In 950 Adelaide of Italy, widow of King Lothair II, fled to Canossa for safety from Berengar II, marquis of Ivrea. Berengar brought his forces to the rock and sat before it for three years without result.
Henry IV Before Gregory VII, and the Matildine Inheritance, 1077-1115
In 1077, during the Investiture Controversy, the castle was the venue for the reconciliation of Emperor Henry IV with Pope Gregory VII. Its protagonist was Matilda of Tuscany, then holder of Canossa and on friendly terms with the pope; from the episode comes the phrase about going to Canossa that spread through the European languages.
Matilda had made a solemn donation of all her goods to the Church, and she died at Bondeno di Roncore on 24 July 1115. Her heirs would have none of it, and a long fight opened over the Matildine inheritance, which took in the neighbouring castle of Rossena and the Rossenella tower as well.
Reggio Razes the Castle, 1255
In 1255 troops of Reggio destroyed the castle and its church, pulling the castle down to its foundations. The site passed back to the Canossa, then to Giberto da Correggio; on his death in 1321 it returned before the year was out to the commune of Reggio, which held it until 1402. The Visconti, lords of Reggio Emilia from 1371, supplied the castle with firearms. In 1392 the Visconti castellan Pisanello de' Pisi carried off the relics of Sant'Apollonio, San Vittore and Santa Corona from the fortress church and sent them to Ottone Mandelli, who gave them to the church of San Francesco in Pavia.
Este Fief, Ariosto's Command, and the Sale of 1878
In 1402 Simone, Guido and Alberto Canossa took the rock back, and in 1409 ceded it for good to the House of Este, who held it until 1796 apart from a contested spell under Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma, in 1557. In 1502 Ercole I d'Este appointed the poet Ludovico Ariosto captain of the rocca, and he lived there for close to six consecutive months. The fief went to the Counts Rondinelli in 1593, and in 1642 Duke Francesco I invested the Valentini family with it.
The Valentini were driven out in 1796 by the people of Canossa, who threw in with the Republic of Reggio; Napoleon's decree of 8 June 1805 created the commune of Canossa, which was joined to Quattro Castella in 1809. The counts obtained the fief back from the duke in 1819 and remained owners until 1878, when the Italian state bought the rocca and declared it a national monument. Naborre Campanini's excavations followed, and the finds went into a small museum beside the castle, opened in 1913 and later named after him.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1077.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Canossa Castle, including 3 interiors: inner ward and the lord's residence, church of sant'apollonio (exterior and interior), benedictine convent and cloister. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate Canossa Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Canossa Castle.
The families that held Canossa Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Canossa
Built c. 940 by Adalbert Atto; the Canossa family recovered the castle in 1402 before ceding it to the Este in 1409.
Este
Held by the House of Este from 1409 until 1796.
Rondinelli
Assigned as a fief to the Counts Rondinelli in 1593.
Valentini
Entrusted to the Valentini by Duke Francesco I in 1642; held until the Italian State acquired the castle in 1878.
