Castello di Montechiarugolo, Medieval fortress in Montechiarugolo, Italy

Castello di Montechiarugolo is a medieval fortress built on a natural embankment above the Enza river, standing at the boundary between the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia. The building features thick defensive walls and multiple decorated interior rooms that reflect its military and cultural past.

The Sanvitale family built a military post here around 1121; in 1313 the castle and village were destroyed after a revolt against Parma's Guelphs. The Visconti had it rebuilt after 1348, and in 1406 Giovanni Maria Visconti granted the fief to condottiero Guido Torelli, who rebuilt it on a polygonal plan. In 1428 Filippo Maria Visconti confirmed the Torelli as counts.

Pomponio Torelli, count from 1608, turned the interior into a noble residence with painted decoration; the Salone delle Feste and the Sala dei Quattro Elementi, also called delle Sirene, later lost part of their decoration when Duchess Marie-Louise used the castle as a gunpowder factory. The name Montechiarugolo is remembered in the 1796 battle, when Austrian troops fleeing Napoleon's army took shelter here and surrendered to a column of the Repubblica Reggiana led by Carlo Ferrarini.

The castle stands at Piazza Mazzini 1 on a natural rise at the edge of the Enza stream bed, with a deep moat on the side away from the water. The two drawbridges that once crossed it rested on ravelins that still survive, though damaged by centuries of attacks. The irregular plan has two inner courtyards, the larger central one being the court of honour.

From June 1940 an annex of the castle housed a civilian internment camp for men, holding about fifty Jewish refugees in its first weeks; French and British citizens, including Anglo-Maltese students, arrived in mid-August. The building had three floors and room for roughly 200 people, though the number never exceeded 150 between 1940 and 1943.