The fief of Niccolò I Malaspina included the walled lands of Malgrate and Filetto, the farmhouses of Cunale and Casola and the four villages of Orturano, Irola, Mocrone and Gragnana [1]. Among the Marquis’ children the district of Malgrate was entrusted to the four-born Bernabò Malaspina and it was at that time that the construction of the castle appeared as well as the development of the village [2]. The descendants of Bernabò held this dominion for two and a half centuries and alternated moments of quiet with turbulent events determined especially by the greed of the states of Florence and Milan for supremacy in Lunigiana.
These disputes made the survival of the political autonomy of the Bernabò dynasty difficult and provoked concerns, conflicts with subjects, disputes with neighboring feudal lords and invasions. The greatest tensions occurred in the fifteenth century: during the wars between the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti and the Republic of Florence, already allied with the Bernabò, the latter betrayed in favor of Milan the Florentine republic, which with the help of the population rebel in the marquisate occupied the castle for three years. With the peace of Ferrara in 1433 and after an act of submission to the republic, the Malaspina regained possession of their fiefdom. This fact provoked the resentment of Philip of Milan, so much so that in 1445 he had the castle attacked by his troops and destroy the fortifications.
In 1615 Cesare II, heavily indebted and without male children, sold the fiefdom to the Ducal Chamber of Milan which, after having kept it for twenty-six years and in need of money, sold it in 1641 to the noble Ariberti family of Cremona. The Cremonese family ruled with justice and liberality and following a revision of the structure led to the definitive transformation of the fortress from a war instrument into a bourgeois residence.
After the extinction of the Ariberti family, Malgrate passed in 1745 to the Freganeschi of Milan, joined to the Ariberti for part of the women, who retained their dominion until the time of the French Revolution. In the nineteenth century, dismantled and stripped of its possessions, the castle ruined almost entirely [2].
Today the castle of Malgrate, acquired from the state heritage, has been completely consolidated and restored thanks to the Structural Funds of the European Union and the funds of the Castelli della Lunigiana Special Project [3].
Architecture
The circular tower
The complex has the characteristics of a classic medieval fortress with a tower suitable for defense plumbing, central keep and curtain wall garnished with battlements and patrol walkways. The entrance to the castle is preceded by a moat and a bridge replaces an old drawbridge.
The trapezoidal walls are from the post-medieval period and are crossed in all their perimeter by walkways for the guards and buttresses with arches. The walls enclose the medieval core which has a rectangular planimetric shape.
The tower, probably dating back to the 12th century, is over twenty-five meters high and is located on the west side of the castle. Circular in shape and flanked by a fortified building with a rectangular plan, it has six overlapping vaulted rooms connected through hatches by retractable stairs, with the upper projection on stone corbels [4].
Next to the tower there are the remains of a central keep, residence of the feudal lord, probably on three floors and with an internal courtyard. The large slits suitable for the use of throwing weapons such as bows and crossbows date back to the 15th century. The access door to the village created by Giuseppe Malaspina in 1566 is welded to the eastern side of the castle walls.
