Rocca Meli Lupi

The Rocca Meli Lupi, also called Rocca di Soragna, is a castle-palace located in the town of Soragno, Province of Parma, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The rough, unfinished exteriors do not match the highly decorated interior rooms.

Facade with lions flanking entrance and corner towers

History

Built in 1361, the castle once belonged to the princes of the Meli Lupi family of Soragna. The castle had corner towers. In 1446, ornamental grapevine frescoes were painted in the ceilings of the courtyard portico. Further reconstructions and expansions occurred through the centuries. The castle is still inhabited by descendants of the Meli Lupi family.

Ground-floor Courtyard portico frescoes depicting grapevines

Only some rooms are open to the public:^[1]^[2]

Red Room, with 6 paintings by il Brescianino and portraits of the present owners Giampaolo Meli Lupi and his wife Ottavia Rossi
Antique Billiard Room, whose walls are decorated with family portraits, among them, the portrait of Donna Cinerina
Dragon stairs that go up to the second floor
Room of the Strong Women
Sala Baglione, with the Grotesque style frescoes integrating heraldic images (17th-century) done by Cesare Baglione
Golden Water Closet with the wooden ceiling (1701) by Giuseppe Bosi
Plaster Room, with the frescoed ceiling depicting the Apotheosis of the Meli-Lupi Family by Francesco and Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena
Gallery with the frescoes depicting the noble birth of the family (1696) by Francesco Galli-Bibiena, and a fresco of an Assumption by Ilario Spolverini
Gallery of the nuns with 17th-century portraits of the Farnese family.

Baglione's Grotteschi

Donna Cenerina is the nickname attached to Cassandra Marinoni of Milan, wife of Marchese Diofebo II Meli Lupi, who was assassinated in this castle by her brother-in-law Giulio Anguissola in 1573. Legend claims her ghost still haunts the castle.^[3]

The gardens of the site include a lake surrounded by grottoes and baroque statuaty. The church of San Giacomo, Soragna is nearby.

References

↑ Province of Parma Tourism Office, entry on castle-palace.
↑ Official website.
↑ Legend of Donna Cenerina, castle official website.

Coordinates: 44°55′38″N 10°07′21″E / 44.9273°N 10.1224°E / 44.9273; 10.1224

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