Rocchetta Mattei

About

The astonishing castle Rocchetta Mattei is a hidden jewel of the Appenines sitting on a scenic hilltop between Bologna and Florence. With its labyrinth of interconnected rooms, courtyards, passages, stairways, and towers and a unique mixture of styles, from Medieval to Middle-Eastern and Moorish, Rocchetta Mattei is a piece of architecture like no other. The 19th-century castle has been the cradle for electrohomeopathy, a system of healing that made its creator Count Cesare Mattei known all over the world: among his patients some eminent people like the Czar Alexander II, King Ludwig III of Bavaria and Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Sissi). Mattei had become so famous that he was even mentioned by Dostoeveskji in his novel The Brothers Karamazov. Among its most spectacular rooms, the Sala dei Novanta (Hall of Nineties), the Chapel, a breathtaking reproduction of the interior of Cordoba’s Mezquita and the Lions’ Courtyard, inspired by the courtyard of the Alhambra in Granada.

At a glance

• Typical visit: about 1 hour 30 minutes