The Rocca di Cento is a medieval fortification built from June 1378, when the troops of the Bolognese army arrived in the town. It did not rise on earlier military structures: it was designed on purpose, to control and defend the people of Cento, who a few years before had rebelled against the bishop of Bologna. The works were directed by the Bolognese municipal engineer Lorenzo da Bagnomarino and were completed in a few years; the State Archive of Bologna keeps an account book of the building site, compiled in the autumn of that year. In 1456 the fortress was rebuilt by Cardinal Filippo Calandrini, in 1483 it was adapted to firearms, in 1539 it suffered a fire.
What to see
The fortress stands in the square that bears its name and can be recognised by its entrance tower, the three towers at the corners and the tall keep. The drawbridges and the moat that surrounded it are no longer there.
In the mid-nineteenth century it was a barracks, and after the unification of Italy the State used it as a prison until 1969. In the cells, which are in the keep, there remain inscriptions that record where the inmates came from. During the bombings of the Second World War the underground rooms served as a shelter for the people of Cento.
Visiting
After the restoration some rooms are open to the public, among them the chapel, the hall of the three-light window, the gun emplacements and the prisons; exhibitions and cultural activities are held regularly in the fortress. Opening days and times should be checked with the town council of Cento.
Our editors' tip
A tradition is tied to the fortress. In 1597 a soldier quartered here is said to have struck an image of the Madonna with an arrow, and the image is said to have bled. The painting, which became an object of veneration, is kept in the nearby sanctuary of the Beata Vergine della Rocca.
