Rocchetta Mattei


Rocchetta Mattei is an eclectic 19th-century castle and former sanatorium located above the village of Riola, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. Standing on a rocky spur above the Reno valley at the foot of the Apennines, it was begun in 1850 by Count Cesare Mattei on the ruins of a medieval fortress traditionally attributed to Matilda of Tuscany.
Conceived as both a neo-medieval residence and the headquarters of Mattei’s alternative medical system of electrohomeopathy, Rocchetta Mattei combines neo-medieval, Moorish revival and Liberty elements in a deliberately labyrinthine layout. Italian heritage authorities regard it as one of the most significant examples of 19th-century eclectic architecture in Italy.
Since 2005 the complex has been owned by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, which carried out an extensive restoration programme. It reopened to the public in 2015 as a museum and cultural venue and has become one of the most visited heritage sites in the Emilia-Romagna Apennines.

History

Cesare Mattei and the origin of the castle

Cesare Mattei was born in Bologna in 1809 into a wealthy bourgeois family and moved in intellectual and political circles that included figures such as the writer Paolo Costa, the politician Marco Minghetti and the composer Gioachino Rossini. He was among the founders of the savings bank Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna in 1837 and in 1847 was created count by Pope Pius IX in recognition of donations of land in the Comacchio area and his support for the defence of the Papal States during the Revolutions of 1848–49.
The death of his mother in 1844 and his disillusionment with politics after 1848–49 led Mattei to withdraw from public life and devote himself to the study of a new therapeutic system based on the “vital energy” of plants. In 1850 he acquired land on a rocky knoll overlooking the Reno valley, where the ruins of a medieval fortress still stood, and on 5 November of that year he laid the first stone of what he affectionately called the Rocchetta.
Mattei personally directed the works, initially with the ambition of recreating a medieval castle. He settled permanently at Rocchetta Mattei in 1859, adopting the lifestyle of a “medieval lord” with a small court of collaborators and patients, and continued to modify and enlarge the complex throughout his life.

Use as residence and sanatorium

Rocchetta Mattei was not only Mattei’s residence but also the headquarters, clinic and symbolic showcase of his system of electrohomeopathy. Here he received patients from Italy and abroad, drawn by the promise of treatments based on plant-derived remedies and “electric fluids”.
Contemporary promotional literature and later local tradition report that members of European high society were treated or received at Rocchetta Mattei, including Ludwig II of Bavaria, Alexander II of Russia, Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Gioachino Rossini, alongside a wider bourgeois and aristocratic clientele. The demand for cures led to the construction of a number of small “climatic villas” in the surrounding area to house patients during their stay.
During Mattei’s lifetime the castle was continuously reshaped, with successive building campaigns adding towers, terraces, loggias and interiors in different styles. The complex was largely completed by the time of his death in 1896, although works and alterations continued for several decades afterwards.
The architectural realisation of the Rocchetta was directed by Cesare Mattei as patron and guiding figure, but involved the collaboration of designers and local master builders. Heritage catalogues and later historical accounts mention Giulio Cesare Ferrari—often described as a painter or scenographer—as one of the collaborators engaged in translating Mattei’s ideas into drawings and built form during several construction phases. His contribution is generally understood as interpretative and executive rather than that of a sole architectural author, within a process characterised by incremental additions rather than a unified project.

Venturoli and the 20th century

After Mattei’s death, Rocchetta Mattei and the electrohomeopathy business passed to his adopted son Mario Venturoli Mattei. Venturoli oversaw further architectural changes, adding Liberty-style decorative schemes and interiors to parts of the castle, including the Music Room, the Hall of Peace and the final arrangement of the Hall of the Ninety. Under his direction the network of electrohomeopathic depots continued to expand internationally until the early 20th century.
The production of Mattei remedies in Bologna carried on, with ups and downs and amid controversy from the medical establishment, until the 1960s, when the laboratories finally closed in 1968.
During the Second World War the castle was occupied and suffered damage. In the post-war period Mattei’s heirs attempted to donate the property to public institutions without success. In 1959 it was purchased by entrepreneur Primo Stefanelli, who transformed it into a private tourist attraction with a hotel and entertainment facilities. This phase, often remembered for its somewhat kitsch additions, nevertheless helped keep the site in use until financial difficulties led to its closure in 1986 and subsequent abandonment.
By the early 2000s the complex was in a serious state of decay, with structural problems and widespread deterioration of its finishes and decorative apparatus.

Acquisition and restoration by Fondazione Carisbo

In October 2005 Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna acquired Rocchetta Mattei, classified as an architectural monument under Italian cultural heritage law, with the aim of saving it from ruin and reopening it to the public.
A major restoration campaign, lasting around seven years, involved the structural consolidation of large portions of the castle, the refurbishment of roofs and terraces, the recovery of decorative cycles and finishes and the installation of modern systems and accessibility measures. Approximately two-thirds of the complex were restored and made safely accessible.
On 9 August 2015, following an agreement between Fondazione Carisbo, the municipality of Grizzana Morandi, the Metropolitan City of Bologna and the Union of Municipalities of the Bolognese Apennines, Rocchetta Mattei reopened to the public with guided tours at weekends and on selected days. The reopening quickly turned the castle into a major cultural attraction for the area.
In 2024 a new phase of restoration was launched, focusing on the Arab-Moorish wing, considered the most authentic and oldest part of the complex, where Mattei first took up residence. The intervention, funded within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the pilot project Da Campolo l’arte fa Scola, aims to consolidate structures, complete architectural and decorative restoration in selected rooms and make further sections of the castle safely visitable.

Architecture

Overall character and styles

Rocchetta Mattei is a deliberately eclectic ensemble, built in stages on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Reno river. The plan is irregular and articulated on multiple levels, with a network of staircases, small courtyards, terraces and passages that create a sense of spatial labyrinth, a characteristic often noted in visitor accounts and official presentations.
Architecturally, the complex combines neo-medieval motifs with a rich Moorish-revival vocabulary and early 20th-century Liberty interiors. Many of the “precious” elements are in fact realised with modest materials—plaster, brick, timber, canvas and papier-mâché—painted or modelled to imitate marble, carved wood or stone, in keeping with Mattei’s taste for trompe-l’œil and theatrical illusion.
Italian heritage catalogues and the owner foundation describe Rocchetta Mattei as one of the most interesting and emblematic examples of eclectic architecture in Italy in the second half of the 19th century and as a symbolic landmark of the Reno valley landscape.

Entrance, stairway and central courtyard

The visitor approach follows a steep external stairway in stone that climbs the rocky slope to a noble Moorish entrance flanked by a tower. The balcony of the tower is protected by a marble balustrade that reproduces the medieval pulpit from the abbey of Pomposa, today in the Louvre. Along the ascent stand numerous 19th-century statues, while near the portal a cement copy of the famous medieval Pisan Griffin—the largest Islamic bronze preserved in Italy—recalls the taste for archaeological quotations. The main Moorish-style door is accompanied by a large cement figure, halfway between a harpy and a gargoyle, bearing the globe on its shoulders.
Beyond the entrance an antechamber with primitive-style figures gives access through a Moorish arch supported by two neo-medieval telamons—one with a demonic face, the other human—to the large central courtyard. Here several important pieces of medieval spolia are reused: the balcony of the so-called Pope’s Room is carried by two carved stone corbels with lion heads, acanthus leaves and a coat of arms from the tomb of the jurist Giovanni da Legnano by the Dalle Masegne brothers, while above the entrance to the main staircase a circular relief of the condottiero Niccolò Ludovisi, by Jacopo della Quercia from the basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, has been mounted. At the centre of the courtyard stands a large fountain obtained from the baptismal font of the medieval parish church of Verzuno, a village in the surrounding area.

Principal interiors and courtyards

The standard tour, as presented by the management, follows a route through some of the most characteristic rooms of the castle:
  • Hall of the Ninety. Initially conceived by Mattei as a mausoleum dedicated to Queen Victoria, it was transformed into a ballroom by Mario Venturoli in the early 20th century. The décor and furnishings are in Liberty style, and a large oval stained-glass window features a portrait of Cesare Mattei with his date of birth. The name of the hall derives from the story that Mattei wished to celebrate his 90th birthday here surrounded by eighty-nine other nonagenarians.
  • Chapel. Accessed via a stairway from the hall, the chapel is the most iconic space of the Rocchetta. Its design combines elements inspired by the Great Mosque of Córdoba—most notably the striped intersecting arches—with features of Italian medieval church architecture such as the matroneum and the semicircular apse. The structure and decorative apparatus are executed in humble materials skilfully painted and modelled to simulate marble and carved stone. The ceiling, which appears to be richly carved woodwork, is actually composed of painted canvases with applied wooden floral elements. In the lunettes are depictions of apostles painted in the early 20th century in a style imitating mosaic. From the gallery above the altar, the visitor can see Mattei’s monumental tomb, a colourful glazed ceramic sarcophagus produced by the Minghetti factory in Bologna according to the count’s testamentary wishes.
  • Hanging garden and upper courtyards. Leaving the chapel, a short stair leads to the hanging garden, offering views of the various towers of the castle—the square “Count’s tower” and the circular “Vision tower”—and over the surrounding Apennine landscape. The balustrades, in cement modelled and painted to resemble intertwined branches and roots, and the faux-antique architraves reflect the taste for natural and antiquarian motifs.
  • Courtyard of the Lions. One of the best-known spaces, this courtyard reprises on a smaller scale the layout of the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra in Granada. A central fountain with four lions is surrounded by a portico rich in Moorish stucco decoration. Above the arches a frieze of panels bears the motif of the Vision tower, used as the logo of Mattei’s remedies, while an inscription in Arabic script runs along the upper part of the structure. The walls under the portico are lined with Seville tiles of high quality. Historic and heritage sources note that Mattei drew on illustrated publications such as Owen Jones’s The Grammar of Ornament and on the Moorish displays at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London for many of these motifs.
  • Music Room. This neo-medieval hall, with twin columns bearing the Mattei coats of arms and two large ribs spanning the vault, was decorated in Liberty style under Venturoli. It reflects documented ties between the Mattei family and Rossini and today houses part of the Marino Marini collection of mechanical musical instruments, which can be seen and heard during visits.
  • Hall of Peace. A refined Liberty interior with silk wall coverings, a large alabaster chandelier and two small turrets with blue stained-glass windows. Inscriptions with the word pax above the architraves suggest that it was conceived by Venturoli after 1918 as an allegorical celebration of peace following the First World War. Recent restoration has focused on recreating the original wall hangings and window frames using contemporary materials.
  • Hall of Oblivion. A smaller room overlooking the Courtyard of the Lions, with original inlaid flooring and woodwork bearing the initials of Mario Venturoli Mattei. It is traditionally identified as his private room.
  • Red Room or Count’s study. A space whose ceiling is adorned with a striking muqarnas-like relief formed of numerous small pyramidal elements originally in papier-mâché, stained to resemble carved wood. According to tradition, the room functioned as Mattei’s study and possibly bedroom. Some of the wall decorations were modified by film set designers when the castle served as a location for Marco Bellocchio’s adaptation of Enrico IV in 1984.
Other areas of note include a spiral stone staircase painted in two alternating colours on the shaft and the cylindrical wall, creating the illusion of two mirror-image staircases, and various corridors with finely crafted original doors and access to Mattei’s small private study.

Materials, illusionism and symbolism

Both heritage inventories and art-historical studies have emphasised the “theatrical” character of Rocchetta Mattei. Many elements that appear to be in precious stone or carved wood are in fact realised with inexpensive materials—canvas, gypsum, cement or papier-mâché—painted to imitate more luxurious finishes. The chapel ceiling, the stalactite-like vault of the Red Room and several beams and architraves are often cited examples.
The decorative programme also includes symbolic motifs related to Mattei’s scientific and spiritual interests: astronomical references and hierarchies of stars on his tomb, Christian symbols such as the cross and the pine cone, the poppy, and, in the Vision Staircase, allegorical imagery celebrating the victory of his “new medicine” over traditional medicine, accompanied by Latin distichs composed by the abbot Giordan.

Popular esoteric interpretations

From the late 20th century onward, Rocchetta Mattei has been associated in popular media and touristic narratives with “mysteries”, esotericism, and alleged “energetic” meanings attributed to architectural forms and spatial sequences. Such interpretations are not supported by Cesare Mattei’s primary medical writings, nor by contemporary documentation related to the castle’s design and construction, as recorded in official heritage inventories and institutional catalogues.
The Rocchetta is primarily described as an example of 19th-century eclectic architecture, influenced by historicism and Orientalism and shaped by self-representation, practical requirements, and Mattei’s medical activity. Its strong visual impact also functioned as a form of personal promotion, reinforcing Mattei’s reputation and economic success, at a time when patients traveled internationally to seek his treatments.
In academic scholarship, “esotericism” refers to historically identifiable movements and organized traditions such as occultism and theosophy. Retrospective uses of the term in relation to the Rocchetta reflect modern interpretative frameworks rather than categories documented in 19th-century sources, and no evidence supports the existence of a coherent esoteric or initiatory program associated with the site.
Some popular readings emphasize numerological or pattern-based interpretations of architectural elements. In the absence of contemporary documentation linking such schemes to deliberate symbolic programs, these approaches are generally regarded as retrospective pattern-seeking rather than historically grounded analysis, a tendency described in cognitive studies as apophenia.

Electrohomeopathy

Origins and theory

Electrohomeopathy is a therapeutic system devised by Cesare Mattei in the mid-19th century. According to the official presentation by the Archivio Museo Cesare Mattei, it is based on the combined use of medicated granules and liquids called “electric fluids”, obtained from non-toxic medicinal plants by means of a secret process. The remedies were categorised into different families and the fluids were polarised as “red”, “blue”, “white”, “yellow” and “green” electricity, intended to restore the balance of the body’s electric forces.
Mattei presented electrohomeopathy as a universal, non-toxic cure for a wide range of diseases, including cancer. His claims were strongly contested by mainstream physicians, who denounced the lack of scientific basis for his theories. Nonetheless, the system attracted a large following in Europe and beyond in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was widely discussed in medical and popular literature.

Global diffusion and decline

According to the Archivio Museo Cesare Mattei, by 1881 there were 26 officially recognised depots for Mattei remedies in addition to the central depot in Bologna, located not only in major Italian cities but also in Paris, Nice, Regensburg, Geneva, London, Warsaw, Kraków, Moscow, Odessa, several Spanish towns, Delft, Mangalore in India, Yokohama, Buenos Aires and other locations. By 1884 the number of depots had grown to 107, and by 1914, under Venturoli, to 266 worldwide, despite opposition from allopathic medicine and the proliferation of counterfeit products.
The production of the “original” Mattei remedies in Bologna continued, under various heirs, until 1968, when the laboratories closed. Today, preparations marketed as electrohomeopathic remedies are produced in several countries, but they do not use Mattei’s original secret formulas.

The castle as headquarters, patient accommodation and archives

Rocchetta Mattei functioned as the symbolic and practical centre of Cesare Mattei’s electrohomeopathic enterprise: a place of residence, reception and medical consultation, within a wider estate developed to host patients and visitors. A provincial cultural guide notes that, as the number of patients increased, accommodation was soon expanded beyond the castle through a series of “villini climatici” in the nearby hamlet of Archetta, on the road to La Scola. The regional heritage catalogue likewise connects the Borgo dell’Archetta to Mattei’s patient hospitality and describes it as part of the estate linked to the castle; it also records that Mattei’s adopted son and successor, Mario Venturoli Mattei, later reinterpreted parts of the complex in a Liberty style and intervened on houses and villas of the estate as well.
The documentary and musealisation of Mattei’s activity is today distributed across several local initiatives. A volunteer association operating under the name Archivio Museo Cesare Mattei A.P.S. states on its own website that it is a historical–cultural committee founded in 1997 and that it curates documents and objects related to Mattei and electrohomeopathy; it indicates its premises in the Riola area.
In addition, the Gruppo Studi Cesare Mattei reports that it manages Palazzo Comelli and hosts there a “Museo Cesare Mattei” section dedicated to Mattei’s life and the Rocchetta; a regional cultural news item also describes the enhancement project for Palazzo Comelli promoted by the association.

Restoration, management and tourism

Management and visiting conditions

Since the reopening in 2015 Rocchetta Mattei has been owned by Fondazione Carisbo and managed by the municipality of Grizzana Morandi, in agreement with the Metropolitan City of Bologna and the Union of Municipalities of the Bolognese Apennines. Visits are possible only by advance booking and exclusively by guided tour, mainly at weekends and on public holidays, with additional openings in periods of high demand.
The official website emphasises the need for guided visits because of the complex, labyrinthine circulation of the castle and the fragility of many architectural and decorative elements.

Visitor numbers and local impact

Regional planning documents describe Rocchetta Mattei as one of the key cultural attractors of the central Apennines around Bologna. In 2019, before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the municipality of Grizzana Morandi, where the castle and several related sites are located, recorded around 55,334 visits to its main cultural attractions, with Rocchetta Mattei accounting for the majority of them.
The castle is often promoted together with other nearby sites, such as the Casa Museo Giorgio Morandi at Grizzana, the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta at Riola, the historic village of La Scola and the sanctuary of Montovolo, forming a broader “cultural landscape” of the Reno valley.

In popular culture

Rocchetta Mattei has appeared in several works of literature and film because of its eclectic architecture and atmospheric interiors.
The Italian novelist Loriano Macchiavelli used the castle as a central setting in his 2009 crime novel Delitti di gente qualunque.
The castle has been used multiple times as a film location. It appears in:
These productions are documented in Italy’s national film location database and by regional cultural tourism agencies.
In 2021 the British art magazine Apollo described Rocchetta Mattei as “Italy’s Hearst Castle”, highlighting its mixture of medieval and Moorish elements and its long, idiosyncratic building history.