{"id":42270,"date":"2018-04-13T09:37:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T08:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelemiliaromagna.it\/8-castles-romagna-guidi-malatesta\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T11:31:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:31:41","slug":"8-castles-romagna-guidi-malatesta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelemiliaromagna.it\/en\/8-castles-romagna-guidi-malatesta\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Unmissable Castles in the Lands of Guidi and Malatesta"},"content":{"rendered":"

A journey through the lands of Romagna through 8 Medieval castles that retrace the history of the ancient “Signorie”, that once saw them as protagonists of the challenge between the Empire, the Municipalities, and the Pope.<\/p>\n

Lands of border, those of Romagna, always poised between the accession to the Papacy and the flattery of the European kingdoms, cities of rich merchants and trades, incapable, as Machiavelli<\/a> had to say, to bring out a territorial hegemony for “too much force in fighting each other and too much weakness to prevail over others”.<\/p>\n

\"Castrocaro
Castrocaro Fortress – Ph. Claudio Caravano via Cultural Heritage Institute of Emilia Romagna<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The powerful House of Malatesta<\/a> and the State of the Church, as well as the Guidi Counts<\/a> in the Tuscan Romagna region, represent the evolution of defensive structures in the strategic chessboard of Northern Renaissance Italy, leaving tangible signs of their domination through villages, castles, towers and defensive structures which still today embroider almost all the peaks of the hills of Romagna.<\/p>\n

This territory still preserves a great historical-cultural heritage that is combined with an environmental diversity that has its roots throughout the centuries. Here, in fact, arise the Primordial forests of the National Park of the Casentinesi Forests<\/a> that owe their extraordinary state of conservation to the historical events that have marked these lands; and always here are the natural reserves of Scardavilla and Onferno, the sources of ancient thermal waters together with a rich and diversified agricultural landscape.<\/p>\n

The ancient Castles of Romagna that we report today are part of a network of manors that still today represents a line of fortifications that cross the Romagna’s hillside. Ancient centers of power, a symbol of the families that have managed over the centuries this part of the territory, halfway between the climate and the Mediterranean soul and the austere Northern European royalty.<\/p>\n

The castles we mentioned in the article are part of the Castrum project<\/a>: a project to promote cultural heritage and minor cities made by the Institute for Cultural Heritage of Emilia Romagna.<\/p>\n

The Modigliana Castle<\/h3>\n

The Castle of Modigliana<\/a>, also known as “Rocca dei Conti Guidi”, rises in the hills above the city of Faenza, at the confluence of the Acerreta, Tramazzo and Ibola streams. Founded in all probability around the tenth century, it was inhabited initially by the Countess of Franco-Germanic origin Enghelarda, who married the Tuscan count Tegrimo, thus giving rise to the dynasty of the Guidi Counts. The latter built their first headquarters here in Modigliana, so much so that the “Rocca” remained active and inhabited until 1377, when the territory passed under the city of Florence Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Find out what to do and see in the historic village of Modigliana<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Dovadola Castle<\/h3>\n

The earliest traces of Dovadola’s fortified settlement<\/a> date back to Roman times, although the historic center grew and developed starting from the Conti Guidi Castle dating back to the beginning of the 13th century. The Rocca is located on a high mountain spur on the river Montone and still retains an imposing Mastio of about 30 meters. The particularity of this castle is due to the presence of a defensive wall on the north side of the hill that supports the Castle, a work that was carried out during the Florentine dominion of this part of Romagna. The Rocca belonged until the end of the XIV to the local family of the Guidi Counts, who distinguished themselves for being among the strongest supporters of the Guelfa faction <\/a>and for the friendship with the poet Dante Alighieri.<\/p>\n

Find out more about the historic village of Dovadola<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Castrocaro Castle<\/h3>\n

In the heart of Romagna, not too far from the city of Forl\u00ec,\u00a0<\/span>stands the cliff on which the Fortress of Castrocaro<\/a> has been guarding for over a millennium. This unusual outcrop of karst rock, called locally Sasso Spungone, is what remains of an ancient submarine cliff of the Pliocene age (10 million years ago), formed by organogenic arenaceous limestone, rich in marine fossils of considerable geological interest.
\nThanks to its elevated position and difficult access, therefore easily defensible, the cliff had strategic value since prehistoric times, offering, in the various caves still visible, a safe haven for its inhabitants.
\nIn the early Middle Ages, the cliff on which stands the Fortress marked the border between the Lombard kingdom from Byzantine dominions. It is in this period that probably the first stones of the tower were placed that still dominates the town. From the Lombard era, the history of Castrocaro<\/a> is divided into three fundamental periods: the feudal domain linked with the Holy Roman Empire, the papal dominion (XII century) and the Florentine era (XIII century).
\nRemembered in the last two hundred years for its thermal waters, this town lived in the past centuries years of great political and military prestige. A past that is still remembered during the spectacular historical re-enactments.<\/p>\n

Find out more about the history and the culture of Castrocaro<\/a><\/p>\n

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