Founded in the 13th century, the Rocca di Imola is a splendid example of fortified architecture between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. From the most ancient period it preserves the portal with pointed arch, the keep with the dungeons and prisoners' graffiti, the evocative rooms on the ground floor and the terrace from which the view extends over the entire city and the nearby hills. Updated to the modern needs of defense against firearms between 1472 and 1484 at the behest of the Milanese court of the Sforza family, it was equipped with ravelins, circular corner towers, gunboats decorated with ornaments and emblems of the Riario Sforza lordship and was embellished with residential environments, such as the Palazzetto of Paradise. There are many figures linked to the Rocca but one above all is that of Caterina Sforza , the lioness of Romagna, lady of Imola and Forlì from 1488, the year of the death of her husband Girolamo, to 1500, when Imola and Forlì were conquered by Cesare Borgia. Since 1973 the Fortress has been a civic museum, which houses collections of weapons and ceramics and a place where events and activities related to the city but not only are hosted.