The ruins of the castle, which rise on a rugged cliff near the town of Canossa, between the Crostolo stream and the Enza river, dominate the landscape of the valleys below.
The stone of Canossa, from a geological point of view, consists of Oligocene limestone, and rises to 576 meters above sea level.
The fortress has been a source of inspiration for storytellers and poets. Ludovico Ariosto, who stayed there, in Orlando Furioso described the cliff on which he imagined the enchanted fortress of Atlas stood.
Naborre Campanini claimed that “the surface of the summit measures 80 meters in maximum length and 30 in average width: the perimeter does not exceed 1200 and the whole area has been calculated just over two thousand square meters; less than a third of the ancient for the peripheral landslides that maximum from morning, noon and west, have devoured the cliff “. The area occupied by the complex was, however, “comfortable and sufficient for a large castle” especially in view of the fact that “Canossa was a fortress, not a lordly palagio created for the comforts of a life at ease. Matilda herself lived there only at short intervals and in danger; while she commonly stayed in the Carpineti, in the castle built by her, where she held her ordinary court”.
Along the Reggio Apennines, between the courses of the Enza and the Secchia, numerous fortified structures line up according to preordained guidelines, which reach, in parallel, at different altitudes, the border of Tuscia.
The castle of Canossa stood in a strategic position, along the Apennine strip between Parma and Bologna, where the most important communication routes of northern Europe to Rome converged, the Brenner, Simplon road, San Gottardo, the Francigena and that of San Bernardo.
We must not forget that in medieval times the journey had taken on a particular connotation: thousands of pilgrims decided to face, by land or sea, long, difficult and treacherous routes to reach the places of faith, as the so-called “paths of heaven” constituted the maximum existential goal of the individual.
Canossa was undoubtedly a fundamental connection point in the ancient road system.
The research conducted on the site has allowed the discovery of traces of settlements of Roman times.
In the case of some fragments of handlebars and tiles, now exhibited in the local museum, it was concluded that these are recycled materials from some foothill area and reused for the construction of the castle or on the occasion of some reconstruction of the same.
But the discovery by Gaetano Chierici of a floor in range of cocciopesto (small) covered with a medieval pavement, suggested the presence of a Roman settlement on the site.
Campanini had highlighted this floor in the drawing he made of the plan of the site, but this did not determine a subsequent deepening of the investigation.
In 1894 Prof. Tito Bentivoglio of the Society of Naturalists of Modena decided to analyze the fragments of the floor, concluding that the three layers that composed it corresponded in detail to those textured by Vitruvius in the treatise De Architectura.
Moreover, the presence of Roman settlements in that place is not unjustified if we consider that the Via Tabularia Brescello-Luceria, located at the foot of the cliff, was already in ancient times the obligatory connection between the north and south of the peninsula.
CAMPANINI MUSEUM
The Museum is located within the archaeological site of the castle of Canossa.
Itcontains artifacts and works of art related both to the figure of Matilde of Canossa, and to the castle and its history.
Here is an example of what you can admire and observe:
– Reconstruction of the castle with a scale model
-Graphic and photographic panels
-Roman finds
-Architectural finds
-Book “Vita Mathildis” (facsimile)
-Images of Matilda, parchments, gospel book (facsimiles)
-Panel on the castles of the Matilda area
