Built on the remains of an old thirteenth-century nucleus destroyed in 1313, the castle shows the fifteenth-century imprint conferred on it by Guido Torelli, leader of the Visconti and awarded the fief of Montechiarugolo in 1406. Subsequently, during the sixteenth century, when the castle was visited by illustrious guests such as Pope Paul III and the king of France Francis I, Pomponio Torelli humanist and man of letters, gave it new splendor by calling you artists and painters of the time.

With the death of his son Pio (involved in the conspiracy of the feudal lords in 1612 and beheaded) the enlightened lordship of the Torelli on Montechiarugolo ended and the fortress was confiscated by the Ducal Chamber. A small fact of arms, which went down in history as the first battle of Italian independence, was remembered by Napoleon in one of his letters and by Carducci in his oration for the 1st centenary of the tricolor. The Italian state sold it in 1864 and it is still privately owned.