One of the main attractions of the town is the Labirinto della Masone, once the largest maze in the world, built by native son Franco Maria Ricci totally from Bamboo.

Starting from 1100, Fontanellato found itself at the center of the struggles between the nascent municipalities along the Via Emilia; the first nucleus of the castle dates back to that time: in 1124 the first defensive tower of the village was erected by the Pallavicinos.

Originally built in 1124 as a defensive tower at the behest of the Pallavicino marquises, the fortification, granted to the Sanvitale family in 1378, was completely rebuilt between 1386 and around 1400 and extended until the 16th century.

In the early seventeenth century the fortress suffered an attack by the Spanish army, which caused damage to the fortifications; consequently the court engineer Smeraldo Smeraldi was charged with the arrangement of the moat, on which a new masonry bridge was built to replace the old drawbridge.

The sanctuary was again completely rebuilt in Baroque style between 1641 and 1660; elevated to the dignity of a minor basilica in 1903, it was enriched in 1912 with the neo-baroque facade designed by the architect Lamberto Cusani.

Inside there are various valuable works, including the frescoes of the vault, the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century paintings, the organ of 1696, the baroque furnishings and the numerous ex-votos; among the many statues, the Madonna del Rosario, sculpted in 1615, is the object of great devotion.

Ample space is dedicated to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with paintings by Francesco Hayez, Giovanni Carnovali, pastels by Rosalba Carriera and Jean-Étienne Liotard, watercolors by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti, marble sculptures from the neoclassical period depicting mainly characters linked to Napoleon (and Napoleon himself), by Antonio Canova, Lorenzo Bartolini, François Joseph Bosio and French terracottas.

During World War II, a large brick building with stone facings and neo-classical features next to the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary, intended for an orphanage (but never used as such), was the prisoner-of-war camp PG (Prigioniero di Guerra) 49.