Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
Viustino Castle, formerly known as Vicojustino, stands in a panoramic position on the first hills of the Nure Valley. Piacenza chronicles recount that in 979, Emperor Otto entered Piacenza, and after appointing the brothers Lanfranco, Opizzo, Jacopo, Gherardo, and Fero as milites, bestowed upon them perpetual possession of the castle of Vicojustino. In 1314, the Piacenza Guelphs, led by Leonardo Arcelli and Giacomo Sagimbene, who had fled the city, attacked Galeazzo Visconti's soldiers in the area known as "Frescarolo," forcing them to abandon considerable quantities of wine they had looted from the inhabitants of Chero, Sariano, and Corneliano. In revenge, the Duke sent a contingent of men recruited from Borgo San Donnino to the area with peremptory orders to destroy Viustino. The fortress was later the scene of a violent clash between Guelphs and Ghibellines of Piacenza, which occurred in April 1373 when Marcello Braciforte, due to a fire in the castle of Corneliano (which he held in the name of the Church), took refuge in the tower of Viustino, also garrisoned by papal troops. Upon hearing this news, numerous Ghibellines from the San Giorgio area, led by Martilio Anguissola, flocked to the area and laid siege to the castle. Braciforte, forced to surrender to the superior enemy forces, was taken prisoner and, shortly thereafter, hanged in Piacenza outside Porta San Raimondo.
Viustino Castle, formerly known as Vicojustino, stands in a panoramic position on the first hills of the Nure Valley. Piacenza chronicles recount that in 979, Emperor Otto entered Piacenza, and after appointing the brothers Lanfranco, Opizzo, Jacopo, Gherardo, and Fero as milites, bestowed upon them perpetual possession of the castle of Vicojustino. In 1314, the Piacenza Guelphs, led by Leonardo Arcelli and Giacomo Sagimbene, who had fled the city, attacked Galeazzo Visconti's soldiers in the area known as "Frescarolo," forcing them to abandon considerable quantities of wine they had looted from the inhabitants of Chero, Sariano, and Corneliano. In revenge, the Duke sent a contingent of men recruited from Borgo San Donnino to the area with peremptory orders to destroy Viustino. The fortress was later the scene of a violent clash between Guelphs and Ghibellines of Piacenza, which occurred in April 1373 when Marcello Braciforte, due to a fire in the castle of Corneliano (which he held in the name of the Church), took refuge in the tower of Viustino, also garrisoned by papal troops. Upon hearing this news, numerous Ghibellines from the San Giorgio area, led by Martilio Anguissola, flocked to the area and laid siege to the castle. Braciforte, forced to surrender to the superior enemy forces, was taken prisoner and, shortly thereafter, hanged in Piacenza outside Porta San Raimondo.
