The Forteresse of Spielberg dominates Brno, the capital of the Moravie, today the oriental party of the Czech Republic. The castle is rebuilt in Gothic style at the 13th century. It becomes the property of the city in 1560.

It is a prison of State famous for its dungeons having locked up protagonists of the Italian Risorgimento: Piero Maroncelli, Federico Confalonieri, Silvio Pellico. This last, after its release, tells its captivity in a book, the Mie Prigioni ( My Prisons , 1832).