Castle of Roccatagliata: Fieschi Stronghold in Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Genoese
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
The Castle of Roccatagliata is a ruined defensive stronghold and former Fieschi residence in Roccatagliata, now part of Neirone, Italy. Developed between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, it protected the settlement and communication routes through the upper Fontanabuona Valley, including a commercially important route between the Po Valley and the Ligurian coast.
Episcopal origins and the Advocati
The earliest certain evidence of a castle or defensive post at Roccatagliata probably dates to 1173. At that time, an episcopal castle near the settlement became involved in a dispute between Siro II, Archbishop of Genoa, and Rolando Avvocato, a local lord who sought to establish his own authority over lands belonging to the church.
The Advocati were a local aristocratic family that tried to create a powerful domain in the upper Fontanabuona Valley from around 1100. Their ambitions concerned Genoa as the city expanded into eastern Liguria. The family probably held the castle, perhaps only temporarily. In 1223, Genoa appointed its first consuls with jurisdiction over Neirone and the upper Fontanabuona Valley.
Doria and Fieschi rule
On 10 October 1259, the Advocati sold the castle to the Doria, a prominent Genoese aristocratic family. In 1273, the Doria transferred it to the Fieschi counts of Lavagna. The Fieschi then built a substantial fief around the castle and the settlement below it, placing Roccatagliata within their wider territorial power in eastern Liguria.
Ottobono Fieschi, who became Pope Adrian V in 1276, referred to a palace near Roccatagliata in his will. The connection between the site and this powerful family continued through periods of conflict. Genoese troops captured the castle in 1371, but the counts of Lavagna recovered it the following year.
Genoese conquest and destruction
During the fifteenth century, attacks by Visconti forces on major Fieschi fiefs brought decisive political and military change. The Visconti and the Sforza were successive ruling dynasties of Milan whose involvement in Genoese affairs drew Fieschi territories into conflict. In 1433, the area came under Genoese control, and the castle was sold to the Genoese.
In 1477, during Milanese rule over Genoa, the Sforza ordered the complete demolition of the castle. Their description presented it as a fortress perched like a falcon above the surrounding country, built on a rock and regarded as almost impregnable. The inhabitants and the Fieschi never rebuilt it, even after Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg renewed the family’s territorial investiture in 1495.
Gianluigi Fieschi’s failed conspiracy against Genoese power in 1547 brought the family’s control of its fiefs to a final end. The territories around Roccatagliata then passed to Genoa and other local lordships.
Archaeological investigation
The castle site began to attract study in the early twentieth century because of its historical importance. A major excavation and survey campaign carried out by the heritage authority between 2011 and 2013 clarified the surviving remains and contributed to the creation of an archaeological park with a guided route and explanatory panels. The entire castle area has been under architectural protection since 1923.
Remains
Rocky stronghold and surviving structures
The castle occupied the highest rocky rise above Roccatagliata and the local parish church of San Lorenzo. Its surviving remains consist of ruins on this elevated rock. Excavation revealed sections of the ancient enclosing walls, along with rooms cut directly into the rock. These rooms had paved floors, and fragments of ceramics and plaster were recovered from the archaeological area.
Water cisterns
One excavated cistern has a barrel vault. Radiocarbon results show that it is several centuries old, while also establishing that it was built after the castle’s demolition in 1477. A second cistern was discovered within the archaeological area in 2021, in addition to the previously known structure. Its investigation was under way at the time of its discovery.
