The Sanvitale fortress, the castle of Fontanellato

The Sanvitale Fortress, also known as the castle of Fontanellato, is a medieval manor entirely surrounded by a moat full of water, which stands in Fontanellato, in the province of Parma; inside there is the Saletta di Diana and Atteone, known for the Mannerist frescoes by Parmigianino.

The Rocca di Fontanellato stands enchanting in the center of the village, surrounded by a large moat filled with water: it contains one of the masterpieces of Italian mannerism, the room painted by Parmigianino in 1524 with the myth of Diana and Atteone.

Inside the Rocca, the noble apartment of the Sanvitale family is still intact.

Optical chamber in the South Tower
In the Rocca Sanvitale of Fontanellato, the only Optical Camera in operation in Italy can be visited.

The south tower, originally higher and developed on several floors to contain the prisons of the castle, houses the only nineteenth-century optical chamber still functioning in Italy, accessible directly from the Garden of Flora.

The circular environment, very dark, houses two systems of mirrors and a prism placed in correspondence with the ancient loopholes, which allow the 180 ° image of the square in front of the fortress to be reflected and projected clearly on three screens inside the room; the equipment, commissioned by Count Giovanni Sanvitale at the end of the 19th century, was born as a futuristic board game of the time.

The optical camera in 1964 was chosen as the set for some sequences of the film Before the revolution by Bernardo Bertolucci.

In a special wing of the Castle from March 2015 the Banner of the Blessed Virgin of Fontanellato is visible, the large red damask cloth 5 meters long and 4 meters high dated between 1654 and 1656. Its shape and the years of its execution they also hinted at its use as a ship's flag - a Galera - captained by a noble Sanvitale, as evidenced by some documents, who sailed the Mediterranean Sea during the war of Candia.

The theater of Maria Luigia of Austria's grandchildren on the first floor will make you feel like a child again. The armillary sphere in the Reception Room marks ancient coordinates. The weapons on display narrate a time of war, the ceramics and paintings a time of peace.

Legend has it that the ghost of little Maria Costanza Sanvitale, granddaughter of the Duchess Maria Luigia of Austria, appears in the Castle. The little girl, with a vocation for fine arts, singing and dancing, died at the age of 5, 7 months and 7 days, leaving her parents, the young Conti Albertina and Luigi, desperate. Some guides of the manor and some tourists have heard footsteps, a child's voice calling them and have seen shadows, in two rooms in particular: the Billiard Room and the Reception Room.

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The Rocca Sanvitale Museum in Fontanellato, one of the first in Italy, gives the unique opportunity - outside the normal visiting hours of the castle - to admire "in solitude" the famous Camera Picta, the Parmigianino Fresco (with reservation compulsory [email protected]) alone, or as a couple, sitting inside the room.

You will relive for yourself that feeling that perhaps the client Paola Gonzaga, Galeazzo Sanvitale's wife, felt when she entered that special place where she meditated and reflected on the meaning of life through the questions that the frescoed walls pose.

The idea is perfect for those who love to spend a lot of time in front of a work of art alone, to spend time with themselves or for those who want to give a person a special, unique, exclusive experience.

The Rocca di Fontanellato and all the Castles of the Duchy need you: every visitor, every tourist who enters one of our manors takes a journey into Beauty and helps us to keep fortresses, fortresses, manors alive and open.

Map: The Sanvitale fortress, the castle of Fontanellato