Check Out This Mad And Beautiful Castle In Emilia-Romagna

The Rocchetta Mattei is a magnificent castle that emerges as an extraordinary sight, soaring up from the northern part of the Tosco-Emiliano Apennines, in the comune of Grizzana Morandi in the province of Bologna. It is a rather eccentric building that speaks to its former owner, a similarly strange character. The earl Cesare Mattei, who had the castle built in the 19th century, was the inventor of "electrohomeopathy," a medical practice said to cure cancer. It was a method that combined the use of herbs with electric bio-energy from plants and homeopathy to harness the “life energy” (electricity) of plants to heal all illnesses. He even studied biology, anatomy, physiology, pathology and botany in order to found the medical movement. While it is still used in some parts of the world today, it was largely debunked. Other elements of the earl's lifestyle make it even more apparent that he was an eccentric, including the fact that he had a room built specifically for celebrations for his 90th birthday (which, sadly, never came) and that his home was like a real Medieval court with even a court jester.

Despite the bizarre nature of some of the earl's decisions, those regarding the appearance of the castle were largely good ones. It is a splendid and striking building that combines elements of Moorish, modern and Medieval architecture in a hodge-podge of styles that somehow works and the result of which is rather captivating.

Commissioned in 1850, the castle was built on the ruins of an ancient manor house that included a church and a cemetery dating back to 13th century AD. Despite the wonderful visuals, the castle is probably not particularly effective as a functioning home.

The layout is all over the place; basically a labyrinth of arbitrarily interconnected rooms, often with strange and specific purposes like the aforementioned room for hosting his 90th birthday banquet and celebrations.

In 1959 the castle was bought by Primo Stefanelli and part of the minor buildings were converted into a hotel but the project fell apart after his death and it was closed definitively to the public. That is until 2006, when it was purchased by Carisbo Bank of Bologna and renovation was begun.

On August 9th 2015, it was reopened to the public and, luckily, can now be visited once more. If you are in this part of Italy and have found a vacation rental in Emilia-Romangna, a trip to the castle makes for the perfect day out as you admire the madness and beauty of the building.