The Castello Baradello is a military fortification located on a high hill next to the city of

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

History

The castle occupies the ancient site of ''Comum Oppidum'', the original settlement of Como, dating from the 1st millennium BC. Later it was one of the last

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

strongholds in the area, surrendering to the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

in 588. The castle was restored during the War of the Lombard League, with the help of emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

(1158). Barbarossa officially donated it to the citizens of Como in 1178.

Napoleone della Torre Napoleone della Torre (died 16 August 1278), also known as Napo della Torre or Napo Torriani, was an Italian nobleman, who was effective Lord of Milan in the late 13th century. He was a member of the della Torre family, the father of Corrado dell ...

died here in 1278, having been imprisoned here by

Ottone Visconti Ottone Visconti (1207 8 August 1295) was Archbishop of Milan and Lord of Milan, the first of the Visconti line. Under his rule, the commune of Milan became a strong Ghibelline city and one of the Holy Roman Empire's seats in Italy. Biograp ...

after the

Battle of Desio The Battle of Desio was fought on 21 January 1277 between the Della Torre and Visconti families for the control of Milan and its countryside. The battlefield is located near the modern Desio, a commune outside the city in Lombardy, Northern It ...

; his nephew

Guido Guido is a given name. It has been a male first name in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and Latin America, as well as other places with migration from those. Regarding origins, there ...

was able to escape in 1283, as well as his brothers Corrado and

Enrico Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from '' Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry ( English), Henri ( French), ...

the following year.

Azzone Visconti Azzone Visconti (7 December 1302 – 16 August 1339) was lord of Milan from 1329 until his death. After the death of his uncle, Marco Visconti, he was threatened with excommunication and had to submit to Pope John XXII. Azzone reconstituted his f ...

restored and enlarged the fortification after conquering Como in 1335, and built another castle, the Castello della Torre Rotonda ("Castle of the Round Tower", now lost) and a

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

. In 1527, by order of emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

, the castle was dismantled, with the exception of the tower, to prevent it from falling in hands of the French troops that had invaded the

duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

. After belonging to monks and then to private individuals, the castle was restored in 1971.

Description

The most preserved element is a square tower, measuring at the base, and standing at . It once had Guelph-type

merlon A merlon is the solid, upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications. Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures, or tooth-like slits designed for observation and fire. The sp ...

s. The walls are of Byzantine origin (6th-7th century); these were later heightened and provided with Guelph merlons, while another external line of walls was added. Also from the 6th century are the Chapel of St. Nicholas and quadrangular tower ( at the base), which was used as the

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

's residence. Napoleone della Torre was buried in the Chapel of St. Nicholas.

Sources

* {{coord, 45, 47, 38, N, 9, 05, 10, E, type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title

Baradello The Castello Baradello is a military fortification located on a high hill next to the city of Como, northern Italy. History The castle occupies the ancient site of ''Comum Oppidum'', the original settlement of Como, dating from the 1st millenni ...

Buildings and structures in Como Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century Byzantine forts