The Castles of Bellinzona
A January 13 adventure
If I can I try to go on a little adventure on my late grandma’s birthday. She’d have loved it. She’d have complained about all the steps of course and we’d have had to stop for a proper lunch. The former I did too, the latter I don’t usually feel like spending time and money on while walking or exploring.
I’m already back on the train home as I type this and just had my very first pistachio croissant. Not bad, not bad at all. And I just realized that the Italian pistacchio is spelled pistachio in English. I have questions! You can’t just get rid of random letters like that. And how did I never notice that? (Back to edit: see comments for the origin of the word “pistachio”.)
Anyway, off topic.
So, this morning I went to Bellinzona to explore the three castles. The last time I did that was in July 2020 and it was really hot. When I arrived in Bellinzona today temperatures where still below freezing. I had taken the train an hour later than usual because the later one had a connecting bus up to castle number 1. I mean I could have climbed up there too, but there is a bus that stops pretty much right next to the castle. There really isn’t any reason. Now if you do take the bus (it’s number 4) up to Castello di Sasso Corbaro please note that the bus will turn around before you’ll be let off. The first time I went up there I almost fell because the driver reversed abruptly and turned around and I was not ready for it. Cute small bus today and the same thing almost happened again.
I had a quick wander around. You can’t enter the castle during the winter, but you can walk around outside. To be honest, I didn’t enter it in the summer either. Top left is a little courtyard area from where you have top right view. Middle left is when you turn around to leave the courtyard. The last three pictures are all behind the castle looking left towards Magadino and right towards the Gotthard Pass.
The sun was just emerging from behind a mountain at 10.15 in the morning. It reminded me of a conversation I had with a Dutch friend on Instagram. They said that in the Netherlands you can actually see the sun at the time that’s indicated for sunrise and that sunset is when the sun disappears. In Switzerland sunrise can easily be two hours before you actually see the sun itself. Similar for sunset. The sun might disappear behind a mountain much earlier than it actually sets – and that’s when the light changes. Makes sunrise/sunset pictures a bit more of a challenge, I guess. No less beautiful though.
In the summer I took a random path down the hill from Castello di Sasso Corbaro – I stuck with the nicely marked route today. It leads you down the very narrow “main” road where cars can’t really pass easily. Having said that, there’s not that much traffic. Just pay attention and make sure you’re not complicating drivers’ lives and you’ll be fine. That official path down to the middle castle is so much fun. You walk along the main road first and then you just walk between houses on a separate path. I talked to a few dogs that came to say hi and watched a woodpecker (the great spotted kind). There are many woodpeckers in that area. This was the only one I actually saw. I heard quite a few others though.
Back to the castles. The second one has two drawbridges that grant access or keep you out, I guess. Now there’s signs up about having to pay to enter, but in winter there is nobody there. So, anywhere that is open/accessible you can go explore. I love climbing up on walls.
Let me just add quickly that all three castles are wheelchair accessible – to a certain extent. You will be able to have a look around outside and it the courtyard areas inside the castle walls but you won’t be able to get up onto the walls. There is parking close enough and up high enough to get to the castles on a flat path. For the third castle there is an elevator up. I didn’t take it this time but did last time I was there.
Castello di Montebello is my favorite. So, you’re getting 11 castle pictures and a selfie. I was really happy to be there. The first set of pictures are me exploring inside the castle walls. I didn’t explore the entire area though as the ground was wet and I just know the groundskeepers prefer people staying off the grass in winter unless the ground is frozen. Temperatures where just above freezing at this point.
The second set of pictures is the castle from different angles on the approach or walk down after. Bottom right is down in Bellinzona looking up. It’s part of the fortification as a whole and technically not part of Castello di Montebello.
I love that name Castello di Montebello. It’s about halfway down the hill between the other two castles. All three of them were part of a fortification in the 15th century. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.
The fortified ensemble of Bellinzona located in the canton of Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, south of the Alps, is the only visible example in the entire Alpine Arc of medieval military architecture comprising several castles, linked by a wall that once closed off the whole Ticino Valley, and the ramparts which surrounded the town for the protection of the civilian population. Bellinzona thus constitutes an exceptional case among the greatest fortifications of the 15th century.
I took way too many pictures before I made my way down the steps towards the center of town. Yes, the Ticinesi (people who live in Ticino) love their steps. The path I took was called “Salita ai castelli”. I ended up right in the middle of a bustling Saturday morning market. So, I was not really paying attention where I was going, and I took a different route up to the Castel Grande than I’d wanted.
Somehow I didn’t feel like walking all the way down on the bulwark or climbing up the tower today, but I did take some nice pictures of both. You can explore this outside area for free. If you want to see the museum or climb up to the top of the towers, you’ll have to buy a ticket. Back down in Bellinzona (bottom right) is also where I found that UNESCO quote. I love how Castel Grande just sits on top of this massive rock.
I then decided to follow Route 7 along the Ticino to Giubiasco. It’s only a short walk but so worth it. I love the creative bridges that have been built across the Ticino River. I’m going to go back down there and walk further on to Magadino. It looked so pretty.
And weatherwise, when we’re stuck in the fog as I would have been today, the sun is shining in Ticino. Or, I could have gone up a mountain with everybody else. I briefly considered it when changing trains in Arth-Goldau. Then I saw two Asian tourist groups and decided that I preferred - quiet.
I timed my walk just right and got to the station five minutes before a train to Bellinzona was supposed to depart.
What a lovely day it was! Miss you grandma!
If you’d like to find out more about the castles in Bellinzona. I’ve put a link in the notes. If you’re quick and don’t explore everything you’ll need about three hours, if you walk down the bulwark, I’d add 30-45 minutes. If you do the museums and towers too, I’d say 5 hours or more. All trains from Zurich or Basel to Lugano or on to Milano stop in Bellinzona. I think it’s completely underrated and well worth a stop. There are a ton of lockers at the station (the big kind), so you can easily stop there for a couple of hours on your way south or north. Or just go there for a fun day out. You won’t regret it!
Notes:
https://fortezzabellinzona.ch/en/
Cough.
"Pistachio is from late Middle ENGLISH pistace, from Old French, superseded in the 16th century by forms from Italian pistacchio, via Latin from Greek πιστάκιον pistákion, and from Middle Persian pistakē.[5]"
What a loving tribute to your grandmother! Such glorious architecture, landscapes, so very different from the bland area where I reside. Better watch out! One day I’ll have Scottie from the Starship Enterprise beam me over for a tag along! Switzerland 🇨🇭(linguistics too) is unimaginably cool! 😘