Bellinzona

Beautiful Bellinzona, capital of the canton Ticino, is situated along the Ticino River at the southern end of the Valle Leventina. It is an old city: people have occupied this spot since the Neolithic era, and written records of the city's name date back to 590 B.C. As a bastion along key trade routes between Italy and the rest of Europe, Bellinzona has been coveted and conquered by numerous tribes and states over the past few millennia.

The time period we tourists were most interested in when we visited the city last Thursday was the latter half of the 15th century. It was then that ruling Milan reinforced the two fortresses--Castelgrande, site of fortifications since at least the 1st century B.C., and Castello di Montebello, begun in the 13th century--and added a third castle, Sasso Corbaro (completed 1479), and then connected the fortifications with a new town wall (the Murata) to protect Bellinzona from the threat of the Swiss confederates--who nonetheless successfully and permanently took over the city in 1500, thanks in part to French King Louis XII's 1499 invasion of Milan.

The Swiss military didn't make much use of the castles, which subsequently fell into disrepair. In 1920, Bellinzona began restoring the ruins, a project that was finally completed in 1992. Since 2000, the three castles and town walls of Bellinzona have been on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.

And so, at long last, we've been able to see authentic, non-ruined ruins in their fullest glory.

Castelgrande from afar



On the ramparts of Castelgrande



Pigeons roosting in the Castelgrande walls



Castello di Montebello



One of two authentic functioning cantilevered drawbridges in Castello di Montebello



Sasso Corbaro