By Betty Gordon
© 2023 text and photos. All rights reserved.
This is the fourth in a series about my October 2022 trip to France and Switzerland. See my November 13 post about a scenic train ride from Zermatt to the Matterhorn area; my December 11 post about secret WWII mountain defenses in Stanstaad, Switzerland; and my January 14 post about eating at a traditional bouchon in Lyon, France.
About the time that Swiss cantons were beginning to band together in the late 12th century to create the beginnings of what would become Switzerland, rulers in surrounding European countries were saying “not so fast.”
The Austrian Habsburgs would try time and again to expand their holdings westward, some of these incursions backfiring and resulting in more cantons joining the confederation.
Up from the south, powerful Italian families from Como and Milan battled for control of Bellinzona, with its strategic location to Alpine passes and its fledgling castle fortifications. The Vicontis of Milan would be victorious in the 14th century, and for about 150 years become the driving force of this area’s civil and military modernization.
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, after conquering Milan and Lombardy, King Louis XII of France occupied Bellinzona. Residents, fearing French retaliation, engaged Swiss troops for their defense, and Louis, too, eventually high-tailed it home from what today is the canton of Ticino.
Today, Bellinzona is best known for its three late Middle Age castles, which were added in 2000 to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, the fortifications being lauded for their outstanding military architecture.
Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino, is easily reachable by train in about 20 minutes from Lugano, the largest city in the canton, in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. As part of a promotion, visitors can obtain a free pass for travel anywhere in the canton by bus and rail (check with your hotel). The pass also affords some discounts for attraction entrance fees.
The three castles — Castel Grande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro — known together as Fortress Bellinzona, can easily be visited in a day. There is no entrance fee to roam the grounds of any of them, though if you want to see the exhibitions inside there is a 28 Swiss Franc charge (20CH with the pass discount).
If you have limited time, I’d suggest Castel Grande, on a rocky triangular hill, because it’s the most accessible on foot from the center of town, i.e. the train station.
Montebello is worth the uphill hike, pantingly steep in some portions, through a residential section of Bellinzona. The route is not well-marked and as you make your way toward the site, you can’t see the castle until you are almost upon it. I stopped to ask some road maintenance workers if I was headed in the right direction. By the time I did so, I was pretty close.
There isn’t much to tour at Sasso Corbaro, built in 1479 in less than a year, but you can see it most of the way as you approach from Montebello. If you have made it this far, you’ll be rewarded with a rich panorama of the valley below.
To make your visit easier and faster, you can also take the No. 4 bus from the bus station (near the train station) that stops at each of the castles. (It’s possible to drive to all three also.) In summer months, a small train called Artù chugs among the three sites, and you can hop on that for a fee.
Evidence has been uncovered that Bellinzona was inhabited as early as 12,000 years ago, determined from artifacts found at burial sites and building remains.
But it was the dukes of Milan who put their stamp on the castles, which combined could accommodate as many as 2,500 soldiers. The dukes oversaw the construction of the 15th-century murata, the wall that enclosed the valley floor, successfully keeping out invaders, and blocking the entire Ticino Valley northward.
The walls feature some distinctive flourishes, with parapets topped in places with evenly spaced swallowtail merlons, so called because the skyward split top is reminiscent of the shape of a swallow’s tail. Soldiers could take cover behind these features, and pop up to return fire as needed.
The walls once reached as far as the Ticino River, which was a vital supply line for food, equipment and ammunition. In addition to the strategic and military importance, commerce could also be controlled by whoever was in power, with salt being among the chief commodities being traded.
Over the centuries, some structures did not survived, but visitors will still enjoy walking the grounds at Castel Grande — beware of uneven terrain — and climbing the Black Tower (built 1310) and the slightly skinnier White Tower (1250-1350).
I watched a brief film (request the English version), and went into the exhibits, where I looked at a collection of 15th-century coins, and in another darkened room, a variety of 14th-century tempura-on-paper paintings displayed in glass cases. The panels, many featuring angels or animals, once adorned the wooden ceiling of a former city-center home, which was demolished in the 1970s. Unfortunately, nearly all the information was in Italian.
Montebello looks more “castle-y,” with crenellated round towers, a dry moat and two drawbridges. Also on site are two large sections of the remaining murata (see above), nearly 300 feet of which was destroyed by a flood in the 1500s and not rebuilt. From here, you’ll get a better understanding of how, with Castel Grande, these structures dominated the landscape.
The exhibits at Montebello are more archaeological in nature, and parts cover the history of writing from the Iron Age onward. Other topics include what inhabitants would have worn in clothing and jewelry, and some discussion of funeral rites.
Over the centuries, as military needs lessened and modern Switzerland emerged, the castles began to fall into disrepair. In addition, as the population of Bellinzona grew, instead of protecting the sites’ integrity, some of the castles’ interior structures were demolished to make way for much-needed housing.
It wasn’t until the early 20th century that real preservation work began on what was left of the castles, and interior site space was repurposed to allow for permanent and temporary exhibitions.
Quick reference: Fortress of Bellinzona: Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. April 2 to November 8; 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. November 9 to April 1. Only the Castel Grande exhibits are open during the winter. https://www.bellinzonaevalli.ch/en/discover/castles.html
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