HISTORY
The foundation of the Romanesque church of Santa Maria in Castello is tied to a legend originating in the period of Lombard domination. In the story, King Astolfo, in the mid-8th century was hunting in the countryside of Carpi when he lost his beloved falcon. After a long search, the falcon was found on the branches of a hornbeam tree. Wanting to give thanks to the Madonna, the king ordered the construction of a church.
Legend aside, the history of the complex can be broadly reconstructed based on the dates recorded on three panels on the façade: the first indicates 751 as the date of foundation (probably a 16th-century reconstruction of an older inscription), on the second, the consecration of the church by Pope Lucius III in 1184, and in the third, the partial demolition of the building and its transformation into an oratory in 1515.
The church was rebuilt several times: a new church was added to the Lombard complex in the 12th century, probably commissioned by the Countess Matilda of Canossa. In the early 16th century, only the apse and the choir remained from the original complex, to which the Renaissance façade still visible today was added.

ART-HISTORICAL NOTES
The church in its Romanesque form probably consisted of three aisles terminating in apses. Today only the last bay is preserved, and the apsidal zone, but the original division of the building in three aisles is still visible, although the sober appearance of bricks and wood beams is a product of the late-19th-century restoration of Achille Sammarini.
During the Renaissance, Alberto Pio, lord of the city, inserted a Romanesque portal on the façade, which had previously been located on the north side of the church. The late-19th-century restoration rebuilt the Romanesque structures of the apse and the south side. The wall surfaces to the left of the portal and in the apse are original, characterized by pilaster strips, surmounted by capitals and blind arches, linked by pensile arches, in imitation of the Duomo of Modena. To the left of the church, the campanile from 1221 is crowned with a loggia surrounded by four towers and a spire.