The Rocca takes its name from the medieval fortress, where four defensive wall circuits have been identified.
The innermost circuit (13th–15th century) encloses the main tower (the “keep”), a cistern for collecting rainwater, and other rooms of uncertain function.
The first two perimeter walls enclosed an oval-shaped area around the hilltop, which was accessed by a staircase built in the 1930s. At that time, a large iron cross was erected on the top of the Rocca, a symbolic site of the Valtenesi region.
The third wall started at the summit and proceeded northwards before descending to the church of San Nicolò. From there, it protected the west and south sides, ending to the east near the cliff edge.
The late medieval phase (12th–13th century), built over earlier early medieval remains (9th–10th century), began with the construction of the outer defensive walls, close to which stood the church of San Nicolò, and also two adjacent buildings, one of which was fairly important, as we know from traces of painted walls.
These buildings, likely of a military nature, were probably destroyed along with the nearby walls by attack during a war, evidenced by numerous arrowheads and crossbow bolts found among the collapse deposits; they do not seem to have been rebuilt, unlike the perimeter walls, which were rebuilt reusing, where possible, the lower courses of the older masonry as foundations.
Later, probably around the 15th century, the deposits near the walls were leveled and seven graves were dug, presumably connected to the later cemetery of the nearby religious building.
A fourth, lower and wider defensive wall has yet to be fully identified; currently the sole indication is a very short section that continues northwest, below the access road to the Rocca.
Although we know that by 1534 the church was reduced to a ruin, as evidenced by a document from the Archive of the Episcopal Curia of Verona, the violent and definitive destruction of the fortress occurred in 1574, when the Republic of Venice decreed its demolition to remove the bandits who were using the fortress as a hideout.
