Castello di Carpineti (Carpineti Castle)
You can see it high up there, both along the valley floor of the Secchia river and that of the Tresinaro: on the Reggio Emilia Apennines stands the Castle of Carpineti, one of the manors of the powerful dominion of Matilda of Canossa. The fortress was chosen, at the time of the Great Countess, as a privileged seat to host popes, emperors, kings and dukes as they made agreements on the fate of Italy. In 1077 it welcomed Pope Gregory VII, who had just returned from the Canossa meeting, while in 1082 it received the bishop of Lucca Anselm. In 1092, Matilda gathered an assembly of bishops, prelates and monks in the castle of Carpineti, intent on settling the war against the heretics. The
keep is still almost intact and stands on one of the rocky spurs of the ridge of Mount Antognano. The fortress was strategically placed in this position precisely with a defensive function.
Today, it is still possible to see much of the original, defensive structure of its buildings: the structure of the complex is referred to as a 'castle-castle' with an irregular, almost trapezoid-like enclosure. At the end of the southern short side is a small apsidal room that takes the form of a round tower through which one entered the castle. On the inside, an isolated square tower, made of well-squared stone blocks, can be seen.
The defensive walls of the first circle of walls enclose the Church of St. Andrew and the 16th-century cemetery. Further inland, the castle has a second circle of walls with a description of the defensive structures, enclosing the inner courtyard with a chapel dedicated to St. Mary Announced, the palatium, the cistern and the donjon. Of the castle today, mighty ruins remain, dominated by the quadrangular ruined tower at the top. The entire structure was restored from 1990 to early 1999. The castle of Carpineti is located on an important crossroads of hiking trails: the Spallanzani Trail and the Matilde Trail.
