Gropparello

Even though it is composed of parts dating back to different eras, it has the compact appearance of a stronghold with double crenellated walls, courtyard, towers, entrance tower with double drawbridge (one for pedestrians and one for vehicles), keep, patrol walkways dug into the rock . Irregular in shape, the walls follow the steep profile of the rocky spur overlooking the Vezzeno stream.

The oldest part of the castle is the tower, with a square base, built right on the top of the cliff, which, allowing a view over the valley up to Piacenza, constituted the ideal place for a watchtower to monitor possible arrivals of enemy armies from the plain Po Valley; at the base of the tower a cistern was dug to collect water, essential for resisting long sieges.

The keep dates back to the 11th century, the guardhouse to the 14th, the residential parts to the 16th.