A slightly earlier start today as we are going to spend the day in Bellinzona looking at the UNESCO world heritage town and Castles. We will actually be nearer Italy than Luzern but we decided to do it from here as we both have the time and there is a direct train from Luzern that runs every hour. We were the first people into breakfast then walked round to the train station to buy our tickets and settled into our seats for the 1.5 hour journey. The first part was great as we had fantastic views of the mountains but towards the end of the journey we entered a really long tunnel where obviously we didn’t have a view at all and it seemed to go on for ages until we finally emerged into the sunlight of Bellinzona. There are three main castles that fortify the town, the first one we walked to was Castle Grande, strategically positioned at the top of the hill with a sheer cliff one side, this was the first castle to be built in the area on a site where the first signs of habitation date from 5500 BC when a Neolithic settlement made this area its home. The first fortification was built in the 4th century primarily to defend the city from the North (Switzerland) The current complex was started in the 13th century around 1473, when the area was ruled from Milan it was later expanded and restored during the 17th century after which the town sought the protection of the Swiss when the Italian royal family ceeded control of the area to the French, the town council decided it would be better to be under the protection of the Swiss than the control of the French. A large scale building project was undertaken in the 19th century which created the castle that is in place today. We started our visit by walking round the museum where there are a number of paintings that have been saved from various churches and areas within the castle then we watched a short film that provided the history of the area. This was once a walled city with a number of castles providing protection it was also one of the main trading routes between the north and south so a lot of the wealth of the area came from tolls and taxes on trade. Another benefit of the walled city was that they didn’t really suffer from the plague as outsiders were not often allowed into the city and certainly wouldn’t be if they showed any signs of illness. After understanding the history we then walked round the battlements which provide fantastic views to both the mountains and down the valley. After walking all the way back down to the town we then set off up the other side of the town up another hill to Montebello, this castle is located 300 feet above the city and overlooks Castlegrande. The first inner courtyard of the castle has been restored several times. It dates from the 13th – 14th century and was most likely erected by the Rusca family who retained it even under the rule of the Visconti family from Milan. The outdoor courtyards, towers and ravelin were built in the late 14th early 15th century. Again we walked all the way round the ramparts then up the castle tower for wonderful panoramic views of the countryside. Then we came back down and wet outside to look at the drawbridge, moat and battlements from the outside. We had originally intended to walk up to the final Castle Sasso Corbaro but the lady in Castlegrande had said that inside it just contains a modern art exhibition so in the end we didn’t bother. This is 750 feet above the city and was built in 1479 on the orders of the Duke of Milan in just over 6 months. After walking round Montebello we walked back into town and had a late lunch, I am not sure if it is because it is Easter but the town was deserted although I am sure that it is normally quite busy as it is a real tourist destination! After a very nice relaxing lunch we set off back to the train station and jumped on board our train back to Luzern. The train was quite busy with a number of people that had obviously been to the mountains either for the day – the ones walking round still in their ski boots, or possibly for a few days – the ones with cases! Luckily we managed to get a seat then settled in for the journey back. We got back to Luzern about 5pm and after walking round to the apartment decided to just relax for the evening before heading off out again tomorrow.
