Malaspina Castle, Varzi

Malaspina Castle stands in the municipality of Varzi, Italy, and it was built and held by the Malaspina family, a line of medieval Italian nobility.

In 1164 Emperor Frederick Barbarossa granted the Malaspina family a fief that extended across territory between Rivanazzano and Oramala. Elements of the fortress date to the early 1200s, including a substantial wall dated to 1200 that survives at the site. Documentary evidence indicates the oldest core of the castle probably developed further in the latter half of the 13th century as the family consolidated its holdings.

A formal division of the Malaspina family in 1275 created the Marchesato di Varzi. After that split the branch known as Spino Secco established a new borgo on higher ground beside the older houses. The division document records that the new buildings were raised upon the lower of two concentric defensive walls; that original wall incorporated a protected walkway and stood above a surrounding moat.

The tower at the castle was erected in the 13th century and later entered local memory for a grim event. By tradition, an episode around 1460 associated with the Inquisition involved twenty-five women and several men accused of witchcraft who were detained in the tower and then burned in the nearby square, a story that gives the tower its traditional name, Torre delle Streghe. Ownership of the tower later passed from the Malaspina to the Sforza, and today that tower is held by the municipal administration.

Over subsequent centuries the complex acquired later domestic wings, with part of the section facing the municipal square built in the 1500s and another part dating to the 1700s; the family preserved 19th-century documents in an upper-floor study. In 1838 Marietta Malaspina married Count Carlo Odetti di Marcorengo, and their descendants remain owners of much of the castle complex. Beginning in 1983 the family undertook conservative restoration work, and roughly thirty years later portions of the property were opened for public and private events. The large medieval tower is subject to a current restoration project intended to return it to usable condition.