Top 4 Castles around Zignago

The name Calice al Cornoviglio combines two distinctive elements of the village: "Calice," of uncertain origin but perhaps derived from the Latin calix (cup), referring to the site's concave shape, and "Cornoviglio," the mountain (561 m) that overlooks the village and lends its name to the entire ridge. This toponym appears in medieval documents and recalls the village's ancient connection with the surrounding Apennine territory. Calice was long ruled by the Malaspina dello Spino Secco family, who built a strategic castle there, documented since the 11th century and modified several times over the centuries. Today, the fortress houses the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art and the Chestnut Documentation Center, two testimonies to the profound intertwining of history, spirituality, and the territory's resources. A short distance away is the parish church of Santa Maria Lauretana, an elegant 18th-century Baroque building with exquisite decorations and a polychrome marble high altar. The village comes alive throughout the year with traditional events such as the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto (September), the Chestnut Festival (October) and various summer festivals, which highlight the historical and cultural roots of the place.

When you arrive in Mulazzo, a small stone village nestled in the woods of Lunigiana, you can't help but turn your gaze towards what remains of the ancient medieval castle: a solitary tower, imposing in its essentiality, and some ruins that, like silent traces of time, tell stories of power, poetry and hospitality. It is precisely here, in this intimate and evocative place, that the memory of the "castle of Dante" is intertwined, so called because it is linked to the stay of the Supreme Poet in 1306. The castle, once the vital center of power of the Malaspina dello Spino Secco, was the beating heart of the political and administrative life of Mulazzo. The Malaspina family, among the most influential in medieval Italy, had made Lunigiana a mosaic of castles and courts, and that of Mulazzo was one of the most representative gems. Today, what remains above all are the remains of the tower, commonly called "Tower of Dante", which watches over the town from above, like a guardian of ancient memories. But why “Dante’s Castle”? Because in this place, over seven centuries ago, Dante Alighieri was hosted during his exile from Florence. Far from his city and immersed in the complex political intrigues of the time, Dante found in the Malaspina court not only refuge, but also a rare example of nobility and culture. It was Moroello Malaspina who welcomed him, and it is to him that Dante dedicates words of sincere gratitude in Canto VIII of Purgatory, praising the “courtesy and value” of the family that had hosted him. Imagining Dante looking out from the castle walls, observing the woods of Lunigiana and perhaps composing in his mind the verses that would have crossed the centuries, adds an emotional dimension to this now bare fortress. Despite the centuries, the charm of the place is intact: the surrounding landscape is still the same, wild and majestic, and the silence that envelops the tower seems to guard the poet’s thoughts. Today the site is part of a cultural itinerary that Mulazzo has strongly wanted to keep alive. At the foot of the tower is the marble statue of Dante, sculpted by Arturo Dazzi in 1965, on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the poet's birth. With its gaze turned towards the horizon, the statue is a visual and symbolic reminder of the living presence of Dante in the history of the village.

The toponym Suvero seems to derive from the Latin word supernus (superior, placed above) and recalls its privileged strategic position of control, between the Vara valley and the Lunigiana. Dominating the village of Suvero is the castle, along the road that leads to the Passo dei Casoni. When the Marquis Rinaldo Malaspina received the investiture as lord of the fiefdom of Suvero in 1549, he decided to expand and renovate the previous castle, already four centuries old. A defensive and then residential position for the Malaspina family, the castle was abandoned by its owners after 1797 with the end of the imperial lordships decreed by the new Napoleonic French domination. In recent years, the castle of Suvero, for the third time in its very long history, has been completely restored and is currently used as a private residence. Therefore, the castle cannot be visited. The church of San Giovanni Battista, stands right in front of the castle, and shows clear traces of subsequent renovations. It has a cross-shaped structure and in the crypt it preserves a white marble bas-relief of the Virgin and Child surrounded by music-making angels, which bears the date 1497 engraved on it.

The castle hosts a documentation center on the ancient Ligurians who lived in the Val di Vara.

Under the Castle there is the church square and the well-preserved ancient village with its sandstone portals and exposed stone still intact. A little gem

Recently renovated, one of the best preserved castles in the Val di Vara. Its 'tower' is imposing and dominates a spectacular panorama from above.