The castle is only 7 km away from Villa Villacolle.
“The fortress was built around the year 940 by Adalberto Atto, son of Sigifredo of Lucca, prince of Longobard lineage. In addition to the manorial house, on top of the cliff, the castle included a monastery in which twelve monks of the order of Benedictine Cluniacs and the church of Sant’Apollonio. It was defended by a triple circuit of walls and between the first and second, the lowest ones, there were shelter buildings for the armed and servants and the buildings that made up the villages. During the Middle Ages the fortress was impregnable and in it Queen Adelaide, widow of Lotario II King of Italy, had a safe refuge, who in 950 sheltered in Canossa to defend herself from the Marquis of Ivrea, Berengarius II, who for over 3 years besieged, without result , the fortress.
The main episode for which Canossa is famous is the conciliation of the emperor Enrico (or Arrigo) IV with the pope Gregory VII in the year 1077, of which Matilde was the protagonist, and from which derives the saying going to Canossa, widespread in all European languages.” (wikipedia)
