Bellinzona: Castles of Montebello

Before I take you to my last travel stop in Bruges, Belgium for my Euro Trip for 2017, I thought I better take you somewhere else first. I actually completely forgot that I made another stop in Switzerland. While I was in Italy staying with my family in Luino, my cousins took me to the Swiss city of Bellinzona.

Bellinzona is the capital city of the canton Ticino of Switzerland. It is in the Italian-speaking southern region of Switzerland, just north of Lugano. This city is famous for its three medieval castles, Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro.

We visited the Castelgrande, which overlooks the other two castles. This castle was fortified from the 1st to the 13th century. Although the original Roman fort is no longer visible, parts of the High Middle Age castle are visible. Most of what stands is from the 11-15th century.

To get up to the castle we had to take an elevator from the foot of the rock. There is a museum, which covers 6500 years of human inhabitance from this hill. There is also a restaurant, had a function on the day of our visit.

This castle was truly an amazing site to see. Not only are the views of Bellinzona spectacular, but the sheer majesty of the castle blew my mind. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit the museum on this afternoon. If you’re interested in human history, I think it would be fantastic.

Afterwards, we took a little look around the Bellinzona. Unfortunately, everything was closed, but it looked like a lovely little city. There was plenty of retail shopping and cafes. I would love to return one day to explore further.