La Dolce Vita: Bellinzona

This weekend I friend and I took an excursion to Bellinzona on Saturday afternoon. We walked around two of the three castles in Bellinzona, Castel Grande and Montebello. Even on a rather cloudy and dreary day, the castles were still awe inspiring. Here's just a brief history about them:

Castle Grande: The site on which Castelgrande stands is rich in history and archaeological findings unearthed during excavations in 1984-85 confirm that the site was inhabited as far back as the Neolithic period (5500-5000 B.C.) and though to Roman times. The castle as we see it today was built in various stages and has undergone several restorations. Construction of the castle began in the 13th c.; it was enlarged in 1473-86 and later restored in the 17th and 19th centuries.

Montebello Castle: The castle's origins date back to the late 13th century; it is documented for the first time, albeit indirectly, in 1313. The fortress was probably built by the illustrious Rusca family from Como and passed into the hands of the Viscontis at the close of the 14th century. After an initial stage of extensions (in the middle of the l4th century, presumably as part of the work to connect the stronghold to the fortifications in the town) there followed a period of neglect: as can be read in complaints by Milanese officials around 1460, the buildings no longer fulfilled the defensive requirements of the fortifications in Bellinzona, which were being enlarged at that time. Successive extensions and renovations, between 1462 and 1490, transformed the ancient 13th/14th century castle into the complex of fortifications as we see it today. Montebello fell into neglect once again in the 19th century, and around the year 1900 its state of disrepair made it a sorry spectacle; signs of the consolidation and other additional work, carried out from 1903 onwards, can be seen in the brickwork which separates the old parts of the walls from the new.

(Retrieved from UNESCO World Heritage)

It was such a refreshing and relaxing day, and it made the perfect study break from Finance. Here are a few of the photos I snapped during the day: