It is a peculiar place, because apart from being a very well preserved castle, it is an entire walled village.
The etymology of the name relates to Ripa Alta; nearby, according to the legend, Hannibal and the Roman Army fought the famous battle on the TrebbiaRiver (218 b.C.).

Maybe it was a Roman castrum and then, after the fall of the Empire, a Lombard fortress to protect the way that from Genoa, through the Apennines and the Trebbia Valley, leads to the Po Valley near Piacenza.

The first information about the place date back to 1048.
After various events in 1300 it was besieged and destroyed.
In the 15th century it was reconstructed by the Landi family and then it was involved in several war events: besieged by the Spanish in 1636, sacked by the Germans in 1746 and by the French in 1799).
From mid 1800 it is property of the counts Zanardi Landi.

In the village it is to be noted the Saint Martin church, a suggestive building of 1400, with earthenware façade and seventeenth-century paintings by the Bolognese Ferrante.

Guided tours only.

February:
Open only on Sunday, from 3pm to 5pm

From March to November:
Open on Saturday and Sunday.

• Saturday morning: only one visit at 11:00
• Saturday afternoon: visits at 3:20, 4:40 an 6:00
• Sunday: in the morning from 9:00 to 12:00; in the afternoon from 3:00 to 6:00)

For more info:
www.castellidelducato.it; castello di Rivalta
www.castellodirivalta.it