Albinea Castle

Address and contacts

Opening times

The castle is visible only from the outside as it's private property

How to get there

The castle is about 15 km far from Reggio Emilia. Once reached the hamlet Botteghe, go up to the ancient Church, as the castle is just near it.

Historical notes

The walls and the residential areas were rebuilt by Guglielml Fogliani, bishop of Reggio Emilia, who used it as a private residence. The renovations are recorded in an epigraph of 1277: "Anno Domini MCCLXXVII Ind. V Hog Opus Fuit Factum Tempore Venerabilis Patris D Guglielmi de Fogliani Episcopi Regis Scilicet Palatium Cum Dujano Et Puteum Et Turris Et Dominus Extra Duionum Et Murua Dicti Castri De Albineta"
In the course of the bloody conflicts which characterized the 14th century, the fort passed into the hands of the Comune of Reggio Emilia for a brief period from 1324 to 1335. It was then ceded by Bernabo' Visconti to Francesco Manfredi who had expressed his desire to possess it. Won back by the Fogliani family after a bloody battle, it remained in their hands until 1368, year in which the emperor Carlo V invested the prestigious Manfredi family with the castle and its lands.
After violent internal family conflicts and subsequent division of family property, the castle was given to Giovanni Manfredi who became first in the line of the
Counts of Albinea. Further division of the family property took place in 1472 when the two brothers of Ludovico Manfredi who died without heirs divided the territories of Albinea and Montericco. When the minor line of the Montericco family died out in 1647 and that of Borzano in 1695, the Manfredi family of Albinea inherited the titles and possessions of both, thus bringing together once again the ancient dominions which were then maintained until the death of their last descendant in 1732. Five years later the Duke of Modena, Francesco III d'Este, invested one of his officials, Alessandro Frosini with the castle and the County.
The Frosini family, the last feudal lords, after losing dominion of the castle in 1796 following on the repression of the feudal system by the Cisalpine Republic, were given regency of Albinea in 1811 by order of the Napoleonic decree.
In line with the prevailing artistic tastes in the noble families of the time, the Frosini family transformed the well-appointed buildings into a single, aristocratic dwelling, adding to its beauty with a vast pine forest which surrounds the massive external walls.
The reconstruction of the entrance keep, crenellated in the ghibelline style and with working drawbridge, is attributed to the Marchioness Frosini in the years 1811 to 1814. After the dispersal of the powerful feudal families, several private owners bought Albinea castle in succession in the 19th and 20th centuries.
In 1931 the Spanish consul to the Quirinal, Carasco Manuel y Reis de Granada became the castle owner and built a pool in the courtyard in polychrome tiles of Moorish style bearing the coat of arms of the Dukes of Este.
The castle is owned by the Maramotti family at the present time and cannot be visited inside. The main building is built on a horseshoe with a portico on the lower side. On the west side, adjacent to the castle walls, is a tower with window slits, machicolations and roofed crenellations. At the southernmost points of the walls are two cylindrical towers, one belonging to the Fogliani family and one to the Manfredi family - all that remains of the defences built in 1558 by the governor of Albinea. Annexed to the castle is an oratory dedicated to San Liugi (St. Louis).