The Fortress
The fortress was built in 1385 by the Marchesi Bonifacio and Antonio Lupi who in 1347 had received feudal investiture over the territory from Charles IV, power that their family continued to exercise until was abolished at the time of Napoleon.
It is probable that the first fortress, with a square floor plan and four towers at the corners, took only a year to build, while the outer walls were completed in 1392.
The Legend
In ancient times a cruel crime has dyed red walls of the fortress of Soragna
The Construction
The Soragna castle is square, with four towers at the corners and a fifth at the center of the main facade faces south, from the north-west tower runs the Gallery of Poets that connects the main building with the Oratory of S. Croce.
Entry
Surrounded on two sides by a moat without water, the Castle is accessed from the exterior across a brickwork bridge built in the 1600s to replace the original drawbridge. The entrance to the castle is watched over by a pair of superb stone lions holding a ball between their front paws.
Right Wing
The Baglione Room, sometimes known as the room ‘of the grotesques’, takes its name from the fact that it was frescoed by Cesare Baglione (16th cent.), a painter from Cremona, who was most effective when painting so-called ‘grotesques’.
Central Wing
The Bocchirale Room, linking the courtyard to the garden, contains a splendid 17th century French tapestry dotted with small pearls and showing exotic animals. It came originally from Chateau Lux in Burgundy.
Left Wing
The tour continues on the first floor, accessed by climbing the Monumental Staircase built by the Puinaghi brothers from Brescia to a design by the architect from Piacenza, Carlo Virginio Draghi.
Coat of Arms
The oldest coat of arms adopted by the Meli Lupi di Soragna family is “a wolf in blue prancing in a golden field.”