The castle was built in 1146 by the lord of Ferrara to defend himself from the Este, who had designs on this country; the Este took it anyway, and the Venetians took it from them during the salt war. It is the best preserved medieval monument of the Polesine, and the only one left of a whole network of fortifications that once garrisoned this plain: a battlemented tower of three floors, a central block round a courtyard with rooms frescoed with scenes from mythology, and the moat still all around, crossed by a bridge. The name of the village, on the other hand, is a shape: arquata, from the sharp curve that a river or a road once drew here — and that word is written into the arms of the comune, on a band that bends upward beneath a tower.
Just outside the built-up area there is a hunting lodge the Este made for themselves. Alberto V had put it up as a service building; on his death, in 1393, it went to his son Niccolò III, who was so deep in debt that in 1412 he handed it over to a nobleman, with an obligation of vassalage. The parish church is of about 1054 and had to be rebuilt around 1516 because it was falling to pieces; a small oratory of 1740 is all that is left of the village's medieval hospital. And every May the village divides itself into four contrade named after old trades and runs the palio dei ochi: you must lead a goose twice round a course, as fast as you can, with reins tied under its wings, and you may not touch it, or push it, or carry it, or help it in any way.
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📅 Every year, on 30 November
Arquà Polesine celebrates Saint Andrew on 30 November. In spring the town comes alive with the Maggio Arquatese, a historical folk re-enactment divided into four districts.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Arquà Polesine, but an easy day trip away.
