Castle of Santo Stefano d'Aveto, Medieval castle in Santo Stefano d'Aveto, Italy.

The Castle of Santo Stefano d'Aveto, also known as the Malaspina-Doria Castle, stands in Piazza del Popolo in the centre of Santo Stefano d'Aveto. It has an irregular pentagonal plan with wedge-shaped bastions with recessed flanks on four of its five corners. Inside, a small parade ground is lined with rooms linked by walkways on columns; access is now by a wooden ramp.

The fortress was first mentioned in a 1164 deed by which Frederick Barbarossa granted the Santo Stefano fief and its castle to the Malaspina family. Francesco Malaspina sold it in 1495 to Giannetto Fieschi, Count of Lavagna. In 1547 Charles V transferred it to the admiral Andrea Doria, and it stayed with the Doria, later Fieschi Doria and Doria Pamphili, until the imperial fiefs were suppressed in 1797.

The castle's name links the Malaspina, who received the fief in 1164, and the Doria, to whom Charles V ceded it in 1547. The Doria line later became Fieschi Doria and then Doria Pamphili, holding the castle until the imperial fiefs were suppressed in 1797. Today the municipal fortress hosts cultural events.

The castle sits in the mountains roughly 75 kilometers northeast of Genoa, accessible through the Ligurian Apennines via mountain roads. Being at higher elevation means weather can change quickly, so visitors should come prepared for variable conditions.

The castle's plan is an irregular pentagon with wedge-shaped bastions on four of its five corners. Inside, a small parade ground survives, once lined with rooms linked by walkways on columns. Clearing rubble during restoration revealed medieval masonry that the 16th-century rebuilding had not demolished, letting historians trace the earlier castle beneath the bastioned fortress.