The term Walk to Canossa (German, Gang nach Canossa), sometimes called the Humiliation of Canossa (Italian, l'umiliazione di Canossa), refers to the trek of Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire from Speyer to the fortress at Canossa in Emilia Romagna to obtain the revocation of the excommunication imposed on him by the Pope Gregory VII.
He is forced to humiliate himself on his knees waiting for three days and three nights, before the entrance gate of the castle, while a blizzard rages in January 1077.
