The Castello Visconteo (Locarno Visconti castle) is in the heart of Locarno’s old city. Today ruins include the various elements of the central nucleus, which dates back to the 13th-15th centuries.
The Castello Visconteo di Locarno in history
When the Milanese Visconti family expanded its sphere of influence to the shores of Lake Maggiore in the 13th century, it had a castle built in Locarno by expanding a previous fort whose origins date back to 998. The inhabitants of the fort and its large complex had their own harbour, well-fortified protective walls and several guard towers. Not only did the building serve as housing for the garrison, but it also brought prestige and power to the House of Visconti, which now dominated the lake from Locarno to Angera.
Sometime close to 1513, the Visconti were permanently chased out of the area by their successors, the confederate bailiffs (administrative officials similar to judges) who imposed their law for the next 300 years, until the Swiss Republic was founded.
The castle – which was destroyed and rebuilt several times – was always the focus of life in the city. The castle (or what was left of it) was transferred to the Canton in 1803 when the Ticino area became part of the Swiss Confederation.
The Civic Museum of Archaeology in the Castello di Locarno
Today the Castello Visconteo di Locarno and its complex are home to the Museum of Archaeology, known especially for a collection of glass items from the Roman period dating back to the 1st – 4th-centuries AD. The castle complex also includes Palazzo Casorella, a building from the second half of the 16th century known for its loggias opening onto the inner courtyard and for the large canvas depicting the Judgement of Paris by Giuseppe Antonio Felice Orelli (1773), an artist from Locarno from the Baroque period who was also active at the Sanctuary of Madonna del Sasso in Orselina.
Photo gallery Castello Visconteo di Locarno
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