Bellinzona Part 1

Bellinzona is located approximately 14 miles East of Locarno. Italian is the main language. Bellinzona is home to three castles which have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. So, we went there to tour the castles. Bellinzona is just the right size to fill a day with touristy things - three castles and a few churches to see plus lots of little cafes and shops to wander through. We went into one of the churches and it was beautiful inside. Very detailed paintings and sculptures all over. It's worth stopping in Bellinzona just to see the church! It has a super long name: The Roman Catholic Collegiate church SS Pietro and Stefano.

Bellinzona is located at the intersection of several passes through the Alps, which made it a key city in terms of trade and protection. Hence all the castles there. All sorts of groups were constantly vying for control of Bellinzona and therefore control of the trade routes through the Alps. The city changed hands many times. It finally came under Swiss control in 1500.

We started with Castelgrande, which is the biggest castle in Bellinzona. We did not learn much about the history of it. It was built originally in the 1st century BCE and has undergone many changes and additions since then. It, along with the other two castles, are all in remarkably good shape. Whether this is through restoration or the fact that the castles were never involved in major battles I'm not sure. They seem to all have had major renovations/additions/restorations done to them.

Castelgrande from afar:



They hold banquets and weddings in this big courtyard in Castelgrande:





You could walk out over the wall for awhile, or you could walk under it. There were lots of little holes in the tunnel under the wall, likely to poke guns or weapons through in times of battle. We wandered around underneath the wall because it was nice and cool down there and it was a little too warm out in the sun.





They also show movies on the grounds of Castelgrande in the evenings, you can see the screen and seating behind me in this picture:



The other two castles, from Castelgrande (taken into the sun so it's kind of hazy and faded). The one in the foreground is castello di montebello, built in the 14th century and renovated in the 1900's, and the one in the background is sasso corbaro which was built in the 15th century: