Fontanellato

Fontanellato is a small town in the province of Parma, in northern Italy. It lies on the plains of the River Po near the A1 autostrada, about 20 kilometres west of Parma towards Piacenza.
The town was built up in the 15th century around the moated and fortified house of the Sanvitale family, the Rocca Sanvitale, on the borders of the domain of the Dukes of Parma. The house was occupied by the family until 1951, when it was sold to the commune. One notable feature of the Rocca Sanvitale is a room which serves as a large Camera Obscura in which a small hole acts as a lens causing an image of an outside scene to be projected inside the room.
The shrine to the Madonna del Rosario commemorates a succession of miracles beginning in 1628.
The town is also "Labarinto della Masone", once the largest Maze in the world and built by native son Franco Maria Ricci totally from Bamboo.

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Rocca Sanvitale di Fontanellato

The Castle, called Rocca for express will of the Sanvitale Counts, was founded by the Pallavicino in the 12th Century and became property of the Sanvitale family in the 15th Century, who turned it from a military fortification to a residential castle. The Rocca, with a square plan and four corner towers, is still surrounded by a large moat, full of water, that makes it unmistakable in the varied and rich panorama of castles dotting the territory of Parma. The whole history of the fortress and the town is linked to the Sanvitale who were its feudatories, a continuous and secular link with Fontanellato, which was interrupted only in 1948, when the last Count Giovanni sold the manor to the Municipality and with him the local branch of the family became extinct. The fortress then became the seat of the Town Hall and the Museum, a noble house that has been preserved intact over time, and that allows the visitor to immerse himself in furnished environments with paintings, furniture, furnishings, frescoes that have maintained their charm for more than 500 years. The most precious jewel of the Rocca of Fontanellato is the "Room of Diana and Acteon", frescoed by Francesco Mazzola called Parmigianino (Parma 1503-Casalmaggiore 1540), one of the greatest masters of Italian Mannerism. A unique and original feature is represented by the Camera Ottica, wanted by the Sanvitale at the end of the 19th Century: a system of mirrors captures the direct image of the square outside and projects it on a table.

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