The Pallavicino Castle in Varano De’ Melegari stands on a sandstone cliff, strategically positioned to control the Ceno valley, and is an excellent example of medieval architecture with a defensive character: a fortress designed and built with the aim of being impregnable.

Its construction is probably part of the phenomenon of encastellation that originated in the 9th century to counter the threat of Hungarian and Saracen invasions, but the earliest written sources documenting its existence refer to the “Pallavicino Chronicle” of 1087, the year in which Uberto Pallavicino, a descendant of the progenitor Adalberto (who was Imperial Vicar of Otto II from 980), inherited the fortress. In fact, the Pallavicino family, which was one of the main aristocratic consorteries in the territories of Parma and Piacenza, maintained control of the main communication routes between Tuscany, Emilia and Liguria for several centuries, through an extensive network of fortresses and strongholds, strategically located throughout the territory.

The shape of Varano Castle echoes the typical quadrangular plan of the fortresses of the time, but it has numerous peculiarities, including, first and foremost, the irregular course of the walls (up to four meters thick), conditioned by the particular topographical situation of the land, which followed the steep gradient of the two streams that, to the northeast and southwest, isolated the fortress. The skill of the unknown architect of Varano Castle was therefore to adapt the construction to the ruggedness of the terrain, tying the solid wall masses to the spurs of live rock, especially in the southwest and northwest, where the slope is extremely high and marked.

At the beginning of the 15th century, following disagreements between the Pallavicino family and Ottobono Terzi, the castle was ceded to Galeazzo Visconti, whose family carried out various works to enlarge the structure, modernizing it according to the most innovative techniques of defensive architecture of the time.

Prominent among the most important interventions was the construction of the three massive front towers to defend the castle’s only entrance, which was defiladed on the left side of the central tower: a precaution, this one, as effective as ever for the very security of the fortified structure, since it made it impossible both to target its gate from a distance and, because of the limited space for maneuvering, to use covered battering rams, effectively forcing besiegers attempting to break down the gate to expose themselves to the barrage of fire from the defenders.

The Visconti rule was short-lived, however, as, in 1432, Duke Filippo Maria recognized Rolando Pallavicino’s right to lordship over Varano De’ Melegari; except for a parenthesis between the early 1600s and 1637, years in which the castle became part of the possessions of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, the structure in fact remained firmly under the control of the Pallavicino family for most of its long existence. In 1828 the castle passed to the Grossardi family, prominent members of the revolutionary secret society of Carboneria, until the Levacher family settled there at the end of the 19th century. As of 2001, the castle is owned by the municipality of Varano de’ Melegari.

Nowadays, the castle can be visited by tourists by means of the guided tour that goes through its most characteristic rooms, including the “Prigioni del Bentivoglio” located at the base of the ancient donjon, the Scalone d’Onore, the kitchens, the fifteenth-century rooms, the patrol walkways, the noble rooms, the study and the Salone d’Onore. On some occasions the dungeons of the fortress are also opened to the public.

Pallavicino Castle of Varano
Strada della Rocca 10 , 43040 Varano De’ Melegari (PR)
www.castellodivarano.it – Tel. +39 327 3797253 – e-Mail: info@oltrelospecchio.com