The Rocca Ariostesca is the symbolic monument of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. Dominating the central Piazza Umberto, it takes its name from the poet Ludovico Ariosto who was replaced as governor of the province of Garfagnana in Este from 1522 to 1525.
There was already a small garrison on the site in the 10th century, but the structure of the fortress can be said to date back to the 12th century; modified during the thirteenth century, it was familiarly enlarged at the beginning of the fourteenth century by Castruccio Castracani, who extended an extension of the entire walls of the village; it was Paolo Guinigi who commissioned the construction of the imposing tower in the center of the Rocca, decorated with the civic clock, the terrace overlooking the square was built in 1675, the same with the opening of the monumental entrance arch to the city center.