
Camporgiano, in the past know with the name of Camporeggiano, counts
traces of ancient settlements of the Roman age. Since the first years
of the 11th century were the bishops of Luni and Lucca, the marquises
Malaspina and the Countess Matilde of Canossa to fight for the control
of the zone.
At the time of Castruccio Castracani (Lord of Lucca, 1281-1328) the hegemony
on this territory passed in the strong hands of his hometown in order
to return object of disputes at his dead: first the Marquise Spinetta
from Fivizzano, chief of a branch of the powerful Malaspina family, then
the Florentine, that bought it in the year 1341, the Lucchesi in 1377
and again the Florentine, that after the siege of Lucca dominated the
territory of Camporgiano until the 1446. In this year the inhabitants
chose to pass under the direct control of the marquises Este of Ferrara.

The fortress of Camporgiano dominates the town. It was constructed around
the 1300 and in the successive centuries many times enlarged and reconstructed.
It has been always the center of the governmental commissioners of the
several hegemonies that gained the power on the town, however it never
was the main fortification of the area (the most important was the near
by
Verrucole Castle, you can see it in the
photo on the mountain just beyond the Rocca).
It has the shape of a irregular square, equipped with two powerful cylindrical
towers to the inner angles, revolts towards the main public square of
the suburb, and bastions towards to the external angles. All the perimeter
of walls are strongly bastionated and equipped with machicoulis built
on beautiful brackets in stone, still intact in more points, even if
our days are clear the restoration made with bricks in contrast with
the original curtains. The only gate is still endowed with a breteche.
The fortress is today a private property and in the inner ward there
are no more traces of its original medieval structure.