Castello di Tabiano

Built over a thousand years ago to protect the precious salt wells of Salsomaggiore and Tabiano, the Castle of Tabiano is now a private residence open for visits, meeting, events and weddings.

A unique place where you can spend a day walking in the frescoed halls, in the suggestive cellars or on the cool panoramic terraces. One of the most beautiful castles in Upper Emilia, on the first hills of the Po Valley, with a unique panorama that sweeps up to the Alps.

Along the slopes of the Castle, surrounded by calm and greenery, stands the Antico Borgo di Tabiano Castello, now transformed into a Relais de Charme, and Il Caseificio restaurant with typical local products, fruit and vegetables from our garden.

Castello di Tabiano - Aerial View, Castello di Tabiano photo credits: |Castello di Tabiano| - Castello di Tabiano

A bit of History

The Castle of Tabiano has ancient origins being built between the 10th and 11th century. Prior to this there had been a Roman settlement built on a stone buttress and used for its strategic hill top position to overlook the plains of Tablanus.

Tabiano is considered one of the most important defensive monuments of the feudal period in Upper Emilia, other than being the principle military fortress of the marquis family Pallavicino for the defence of Via Emilia, Francigena and the salt mines.

During its first four centuries, the Castle retraces the great events of the early and late medieval period in Italy: Wars between the Guelfs and Ghibellines, between empires, papal and communal, sieges, destruction, conquests, but also of familial conspiracies, plots and betrayals as well as love.

The owners of Tabiano changed many times, it was an object of conflict and competition involving the greatest families of the Feudal period- the Pallavicinos, and also the Terzis, the Corrnazzanos, the Viscontis and also Frederick Barbarossa Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 15th Century there began a decline, related in part to a change in military strategy rendering the fortresses of defence less important.

In the 19th Century the castle experienced a resurgence of life thanks to Giacomo and Rosa Corazza who bought it from Sofia Landi. Celebrated artists and the best artisans of the region were called upon to decorate the castle with marvellous stuccos, frescos, floors, private rooms and reception halls, which today are partly used for weddings, ceremonies and events.

Legends & Ghost Stories

In feudal times, the walls of the Castle of Tabiano were the backdrop for sieges, battles and betrayals, stories of war that stained the walls of many castles with blood.

Those same walls saw also sweet loves being born in the midst of so much violence and while the memory of so many wars has been erased, the magical name of a lady continues to shine today, 800 years later: Solestella da Bardi, lady of the Castle of Tabiano at the end of the XII century.

What a wonderful name for a medieval maiden! Let's imagine this little girl inside the majestic Bardi Castle running in the dark rooms on the wooden floors, under the watchful eye of her mother, aunts and maids. They call her out loud when she plays to hide behind a pile of wood by a fireplace or a cuirass left in the corridor and the caverns of the castle echo with voices "Solestella, Solestella, where are you, come here!".

Older, we see her during the rare celebrations peek at knights and ladies from some hole or from the doors leading into the kitchen, while the eye rests on some handsome and handsome young man, son of one of the father's friends, or of the troubadour, who with his songs leads to fantasize about distant worlds, beyond the river, beyond the mountains, towards the sea, towards the mysterious and great plain!

Her father, Arimanno da Bardi, proudly presents her to warrior friends and young knights eager to take her as a wife: here, my Solestella!

And with what pride he leads her to the altar in marriage to the powerful Guglielmo Pallavicino!

Now we see her in Tabiano embroidering precious tapestries, playing the lute, governing the servants. We try to imagine her by now a woman, in all her beauty, her hair gathered in a golden net, her draped clothes, admiring the vast panorama from the top of a window and the arrival at the Castle of Tabiano of ladies, knights and minstrels.

Three males are born from the marriage with Guglielmo, Uberto il Grande Pallavicino, Manfredi, lord of Scipione, and Pelavicino, the first troubadour in Northern Italy, who creates a small court of poets and minstrels in the Pellegrino Castle.