Day 18: Bellinzona castles!

A typically picturesque Ticino villa.

I woke up at the ridiculously late (for me) hour of 10:30. I always get really mortified when I sleep that late - I had the windows shut and apparently slumbered right through my alarm! After some yogurt and some good strong coffee, I was out the door into town.





On the way into town, past Teresa and Daniel's home, I wandered by this old church. I enjoyed looking into it: it was abandoned and distinctly medieval in feeling, felt undisturbed since the days of knightdom and Black Plague misadventures. The paintings on the walls outside in particular retained that primitive and attractive sense of medieval simplicity. Seek it out and have a look if you find yourself in Bellinzona, it's well worth it.


The Villa dei Cedri through the trees.

My first stop was the garden of the Villa dei Cedri, a historic villa that has been turned into a modern art museum. I didn't go inside the actual museum, but I did enjoy wandering around the lush grounds.


Some emotionally distressing modern art.


This bust was on the gate of one of the private villas on the pathway to town. Perhaps this was intended to chase visitors away.


An attractive angel statue on the side of the villa.


Castle Grande.

Next stop was Castle Grande, the tremendous castle that dominates downtown Bellinzona. The castle walls run all the way up the hill, and it's really quite an arresting sight: antiquated brick, palm trees and cacti, and the mountains up above. The town of Bellinzona itself is strikingly Mediterranean: no chalets or Tudor here. It is rather like Italy without the dirt and the yelling.


A view of the city from Castle Grande. The Roman Catholic Collegiate Church SS Pietro can be seen here. It was built in 1424 and largely rebuilt in 1517 by one Tomaso Rodari. Did not go inside as it was locked and forcing entry into the House of God seemed unwise.

Castle Grande's site has been occupied since Neolithic times - antiquated Swiss cavemen were squatting in wood huts and hunting mammoths here long long ago, presumably. The castle itself began to be constructed around the 13th century and was added onto in drips and drabs subsequently. Bellinzona was an essential strategic point for Italian despots of all creeds and areas (see below for more background) - the castle controlled the essential pass through the Alps. The castle today is grassy and nicely reconstructed, and features a couple of luxury restaurants serving delicate treats to tourists.

I enjoyed the museum, which featured an exhibit on Otzi, the world famous Ice Man. The poor son of a bitch lived around 3330 B.C, and was murdered near Bolzano by a (presumed) rival - shot in the back with an arrow. His excellently preserved body was discovered in an exposed ice flow in 1991, and he's been studied extensively ever since. Thanks to his unfortunate fate, scientists have been all able to deduce all kinds of interesting stuff about neolithic Europeans - they've even been able to reconstruct his clothing from scraps found on his body. (Otzi's people favored extremely snappy spotted cow-skin leggings).


After my visit to the Castle, it was about lunch time, and I follow lunch time schedules with slightly obsessive rigor. (Another reason I like Switzerland: an entire country of people as obsessive about proper scheduling and Being on Time as I am, I could not ask for more). I wandered around Bellinzona's fetching little downtown for a while, rejecting various cafes for various stupid reasons - they're all Italian down there, they're all about the same, no fondue or raclette or alpine macaroni to be found, tons of pizzerias and gelato shops you know the score.



I finally settled on one rather chintzy looking outdoor cafe, and had one of my favorites for lunch: bresaola (dried beef) with parmesan cheese and rucola (arugula). Delicious when drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and perfect on a hot day. Dried meat is one of Europe's best contributions to humanity, fine art and cathedrals and crap like that coming in a poor second.



I decided to trek to the second castle, which is up the hill and in a direct line of sight from Castle Grande. It was a very pleasant walk through a series of back-alleys winding up to the peak - the allies go by various quaint, pastel colored villas, shrouded in palm trees and not-often-cleared vegetation. It all felt very mysterious and atmospheric, hordes of electric green lizards scurrying out of my way as I huffed up the stairs. I finally made it to the castle: the stairs open up to a lovely green lawn at the end of the route.



As it is not tourist high-season yet and the Swiss are not off work, I had the place essentially to myself: I parked myself on a comfortable looking rampart and did a bit of sketching, enjoying the view and the cool breezes.


The view from the second castle.

I left my rampart eventually and walked down through the castle: there was an actual drawbridge and a moat. I found this perfectly satisfied my expectations of what a castle is and what a castle should be.


Another exceptional view of the town below.

After the castles, I hung around town a bit more, sipping a cappuccino or two and watching the world go by. I ended up at the local Migros and hung out in the square where all the towns aspiring punk kids congregated, eating cherries and enjoying the warm weather. At the end of the evening, I headed back for a nice dinner with Daniel and Noah, then slept like the proverbial rock. Wandering around castles can be somewhat tiring.