Castello di Canossa

This is, where in 1077 the "Road to Canossa" (aka "Walk to Canossa") ended.

Matilda of Tuscany (aka "Matilde di Canossa") had invited Pope Gregory VII to take refuge here in 1076/77 during the dispute with Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor. Gregory had imposed an excommunication on Henry during the Investiture Controversy.

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV then treked from Speyer over the Alps (in January!) to Canossa to obtain the revocation of the excommunication. Henry had taken on the behavior of penitence. He wore a hair-shirt and allegedly walked barefoot. On 25 January 1077, he reached the locked gates of the Castello di Canossa.

Pope Gregory VII had ordered to refuse entrance, and so Henry was forced to wait on his knees for three days and three nights before the gate of the castle, while a blizzard raged.

Pope Gregory VII finally let Henry in and absolved him. On 28 January Gregory VII, Henry IV and Matilda of Tuscany, who was Gregory´s policy adviser, shared communion in the castle´s chapel, signaling the official end of Henry's excommunication.

This did not end the Investiture Controversy. The struggle ended with an agreement ("Concordat of Worms") between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, signed in 1122.