Inside a Castle, the first emotional park for children in Italy where you can live a magical timeless experience dressed as Knights hunting Orcs and Witches. The Castle to visit with its legend. The Rose Museum, the Grape Festival and Picnic.
Gropparello Castle, immersed in the green Vezzeno Valley, on a spur of green serpentine, overlooking the stream below, clings to the harshness of the place.
The “Parco delle Fiabe” was created in the woods surrounding the Castle: the first emotional park in Italy. The children, dressed as Knights and assisted by guides, rediscover the traces of the passage of fairies, elves, elves, druids and witches.
The children will also experience a fantastic and exciting adventure together with the characters of the forest.
In addition to the Park, you can complete the day with a visit to the Castle or the Rose Museum.
– FAIRYTALE PARK
A real-life fairy tale with a journey through the woods with mysterious characters, a battle against ogres and witches to defend the castle, a costume adventure for children.
The ticket includes entry to the Fairy Tale Park, an adventure in knight costume for all children and a visit to the Gropparello Castle
Pedagogical and psychological intentions
​The Fairy Tale Park aims to bring a fairy tale to life with pedagogical and psychological intentions, including:
-help the child achieve balance-coordination
-promote socialization, group work, cooperation, respect for others, discussion and communication of sensations, fears…
-encourage creativity and imagination
– overcome fears
-promote self-esteem and autonomy
– push children to believe in what they dream
-development of observation, reflection and communication skills
On some dates, you pay for the same ticket but you will also enjoy more experiences:
Easter and Easter Monday, Dragon Egg Hunt
In mid-May, Medieval Market
GRAPE FESTIVAL IN SEPTEMBER
Every Sunday in September, grape pressing for children but also adults, with explanation of the plant, history, production and properties; pressing the grapes barefoot, in the vats + Visit to the Fairy Tale Park + Adventure as knights for children + visit to the Castle + 1 free glass of DOC wine for adults
Day 1, 2, and 9 November the theme will be Merlin, Lord of Immortality with a journey through the woods with Merlin, Adventure with Merlin and Arthur and visit to the Castle
– VISIT TO THE CASTLE
Suspended over a wild territory like an eagle’s nest, Gropparello Castle strikes visitors with the turreted grouping of the monumental complex which, during the visit, presents the eye with an alternation of scenically different panoramic views.
It represents an example of the art of medieval fortification, placed to defend the access route to the valley.
Its origins date back to the 8th century and, over time, it was owned by the Fulgosi, Pallavicino, Sforza, Campofregoso, Attendolo and Gibelli families. With an irregular plan, it is a magnificent example of the art of fortification.
The ticket includes: Historical guided tour of the Castle, including Ronda walkways that enter the highest part of the Vezzeno Gorges.
You can visit the Noble Rooms, the Keep with the terrace at the level of the battlements, the ancient kitchens and the ancient games room where part of the collection of musical instruments is also housed
– THE MUSEUM OF THE RISING ROSE
Dog roses and wild orchids have lived in this place since the time of the fairies. Rose gardens present in the courtyard of honor inside the medieval walls and in the Magic Labyrinth of the Museum
The Magic Path winds towards the valley like a labyrinth made up of spontaneous plants that have found their ideal climate there. These include hornbeams, dogwoods, white privets, oaks, maritime pines, ash trees, hawthorns, cherry trees, wild blackthorns, jasmine, viburnums, dog roses and imperial maples.
There are Roses with very long buds and 15 baby pink petals, which smell of lemon and others with the color of the female complexion which have the intense scent of peach or tea.
The queen of all is the Alba Maxima, with its white apricot-tinged whiteness and intense, spicy scent: it is the oldest rose, which has been brought to our days from the Middle Ages!
It blooms only in May and June, with a very long bloom, and then makes us sigh until the following year, because it no longer gives us a single flower…!
The garden currently has 1200 rose plants with over 125 varieties.
– Legend and Mystery
At Gropparello Castle there is also talk of a ghost; that of the unhappy Rosania Fulgosio, who would have been walled up alive by her husband, Pietrone da Cagnano, for having betrayed him during his absence from the castle.
Towards the middle of the thirteenth century, Pietrone da Cagnano, lord of the Castle, went to war, leaving his beautiful wife Rosania Fulgosio alone.
Without its lord, the Castle is conquered by an old love of Rosania, a certain Lancelot Anguissola, a mercenary captain loyal to the Marquis Pallavicino.
The old passion was immediately rekindled between the two and Lancelot settled down with his lover.
They lived happy days, until Lancelot left to fight new battles. But when Pietrone returned from the war, having learned of the offense he had received, blinded by jealousy he decided on atrocious revenge.
He had a secret room built in the basement, organized a sumptuous banquet, drugged his unsuspecting wife and locked her alive in the room where she died of starvation.
Neither Rosania nor the room were ever found again.
The Girl dies in this horrible way, and her spirit remains tied to the place of her unhappy existence, manifesting itself on certain nights with moans and groans which from then on would often be heard by those who inhabited the castle; were also sometimes seen the diaphanous figure of a young woman dressed in white wandering in the park or in the Castle.
In some rooms of the Castle a figure of a rather small young woman has appeared several times, with her hair tied back by a veil and a long dress, generally white; the apparition, which has been seen not only by the owners but also by others, including visitors, leaves, as silently as it arrived, entering a wall, or vanishes as soon as you try to stare at it more carefully.
Several images taken by tourists visiting, or by primary school children visiting with their teachers or by Experts with special equipment.
“We or our guides were always present and they were shown to us immediately, and we believe that there were no manipulations, because there would not have been the time needed to do them.”
The figures that emerge are always 3: a young female, a very old one and a male
Like all self-respecting castles, Gropparello also has its legend and its mysteries.
– Food and Picnic
Upon reservation it is possible to request:
– a table under the Rose pavilion for your picnic (possibility reserved for those who participate in the activities of the Castle and the Fairy Tale Park)
– a table in the Secret Garden of the Medieval Tavern
– Baskets of cheeses and/or cured meats with fried dumplings to be eaten at the Belvedere of the refreshment point
Lunch or Dinner at the Castle
With reservation, Guided tour of the Castle and Lunch at the Medieval Tavern or Romantic Dinner at the Tavern and Nighttime visit to the Castle
Gropparello Castle
Via Roma
Gropparello (Piacenza)
Emilia Romagna – Italy
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