The Volta castle is perched on the ridge that runs from Novello to La Morra. Its marvellous location is unfortunately not matched by its current decrepit state of preservation.
Many legends are associated with the castle. One in particular tells of a lord who led an extravagant life, organizing parties and feasts in the halls. One night, during a particularly lavish and decadent banquet, the floor opened up and swallowed all of the merry-makers. Apparently groans and cries can still be heard from behind the old walls.
The structure that can be seen today is the result of many medieval construction phases and modern interventions to adapt it to its rural and residential functions.
Between the 16th and late 18th century, the castle was gradually occupied by a series of service buildings, with the adaptation of the existing medieval spaces.
With the decline of the Falletti dynasty, the castle was abandoned. This condition made it easier to recognize some of the layers of construction from the medieval period: the original nucleus seems to have been the cylindrical tower, around which developed first a series of structures in less-durable materials, then a polygonal perimeter wall with various residential and rural constructions.
The wings around the tower must have been built during the 14th-century phase, based on a single, definitive plan. The entrance would once have been protected by a moat crossed by a drawbridge.
