Over the centuries, the location of Ghemme, alongside the Sesia river bank, has always been strategic as it put the plain in communication with Valsesia, the villages across the river and the territories of Biella and Canavese. Therefore, the local facts couldn’t help hand down to posterity long fights and disputes in different historical moments. The castle-fortified quarter of Ghemme, (more Castrum than ‘ricetto’, or rather more castle than permanent warehouse of furniture) was built in the days of the fights between Guelphs and Ghibellines, which left their mark with plunders and disastrous fires. One has to cross the village to get there since the ancient rectangular enclosure is located north-west of the Borgo ( village) between the course of the Roggia* Mora west and the large square (castle) east. It is an ancient castle, whose ring-walls, still visible on three edges, are about four meters tall above the road level. The road was laid out at the place of the moat, which was filled up in the XIX century. The upper part of the walls culminated with elegant terracotta battlements. The castle was surrounded with a moat being supplied with waters coming from the Roggia* Centurina and from the canal that enclosed the village and entered the Roggia Mora. Covering a surface of 12000 sqm, it is the unique example in Piedmont of complex urban fortification with a central road branching off in secondary roads and lanes giving rise to irregular blocks with a series of yards and backcourts. People could access to this road through a drawbridge that was fitted in a keep. Two cylindrical turrets stood at the north-west and south-west corners, of which only the latter has been preserved... The perimetric slope-style walls of the lower side are still in good condition and visible. The buildings have pebble-stone, herringbone walls with alternated brick courses; the floor below shows the cellar, while the residence, often provided with projecting chimney, was on the upper one. A “solario” (loft) adapted as grain warehouse was located above. One can still admire some lancet windows inside the castle, which are externally decorated with cornices or earthen panels. Moreover, the peculiar lacunars can be found at the first floor. At times, the most valuable houses were painted in fresco; one of the most famous frescoes is the splendid “Deposizione” (XV century) held in the Musei Civici (Municipal Museums) of Novara. Today, the renewed cobbled pavement and the public lighting reproduce a fascinating atmosphere carrying us back to the past times of the castle life. *Roggia=artificial irrigation canal