What is Compiano known for?

Medieval fortress on a Taro spur, ruled by the Landi family for 425 consecutive years and used in 1821 by Maria Luigia as a Carbonari prison. Compiano was the seat of an autonomous Landi statelet that minted its own coin, ran state schools, and operated a pawn system into the eighteenth century. Wild porcini from the Val di Taro forests around Compiano and Borgo Val di Taro, granted Protected Geographical Indication status in 1996.

When is the best time to visit Compiano?

Apr–Oct. April through October are the months that work in Compiano. May and June bring green Apennine slopes and clear views down the Taro toward Liguria; September and October are the porcini months, with the surrounding chestnut and beech woods producing the Fungo di Borgotaro IGP. July and August can touch thirty degrees in the valley but the spur stays cooler in shade. The castle and the Masonic museum open daily April through October and weekends only in winter. Snow holds the upper road from December into March. The September Sagra del Fungo in nearby Borgo Val di Taro, ten kilometers down the road, is when the whole Val di Taro fills with porcini buyers and trattorie keep extended hours.

Compiano is a comune in the province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, about 85 kilometers from Parma.

How do I get to Compiano?

From Parma, Compiano is roughly 85 km by road.

Emilia-Romagna · Parma

Compiano

A 519-meter walled borgo over the Taro, ruled by the Landi for 425 years and used by Maria Luigia as a state prison.

Known for

CASTELLO LANDI
Medieval fortress on a Taro spur, ruled by the Landi family for 425 consecutive years and used in 1821 by Maria Luigia as a Carbonari prison.
STATO LANDI
Compiano was the seat of an autonomous Landi statelet that minted its own coin, ran state schools, and operated a pawn system into the eighteenth century.
FUNGO DI BORGOTARO IGP
Wild porcini from the Val di Taro forests around Compiano and Borgo Val di Taro, granted Protected Geographical Indication status in 1996.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

Why come

Compiano sits on a rocky spur at 519 meters above the Taro river, in the Parma Apennines on the road that links Emilia to Liguria. The fortress was raised by the Lombards in the early Middle Ages as a Carolingian stronghold defending the Val di Taro. It belonged in turn to the Malaspina, the Comune di Piacenza, and from the late thirteenth century to the Landi, who held the fief for 425 consecutive years.

Under the Landi the borgo coined its own money, opened state schools and ran a pawn-shop system. In the eighteenth century Compiano passed from the Farnese to the Bourbons; Maria Luigia of Austria, Duchess of Parma after Napoleon, used the castle as a state prison for Carbonari captives in 1821. The castle was last privately owned by Marchesa Gambarotta and now belongs to the commune; it houses the International Masonic Museum, the only one in Italy, opened in 2002.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Compiano’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

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What to see

Castello di Compiano
Medieval fortress built on a rocky spur above the Taro, expanded under the Landi family and used in 1821 by Maria Luigia as a state prison for the Carbonari.
Museo Internazionale Massonico
Masonic museum inside the castle, opened in 2002 in the Orizzonti Massonici collection, the only public museum on Freemasonry in Italy.
Borgo di Compiano
Walled medieval nucleus around the castle, with a single main street, stone houses, and views down to the Taro and across to the Ligurian Apennines.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
Parish church inside the walls, rebuilt in the seventeenth century on the foundations of the older Romanesque pieve.

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Living here

Population 1,058
Off the beaten pathi
Pharmacy: none mapped
High school within a 30-minute drive
Nearest airport Genoa, 1 h 56 min drive
Regional capital Bologna, 2 h 21 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

The numbers

Elevation: 519 m
Population: 1,058
Surface area: 37.53 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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