Bellinzona and Ticino pass to the Confederates
Bellinzona, Riviera, Blenio, Locarno, Lugano and Mendrisio (TI)
Key figures: Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden; Louis XII of France; Ludovico il Moro
The castles of Bellinzona (UNESCO) · Wikipedia
The key to the Alps. Bellinzona stands where the roads of the Gotthard, the San Bernardino, the Lukmanier and the Nufenen meet: whoever holds it holds the gates of Italy. The rock of Castelgrande has been fortified since Roman times, and from 1340 the city belonged to Milan, first to the Visconti and then to the Sforza. For a century and a half it was the Duchy's bulwark against the Confederates coming down from the Gotthard.
The Murata and the three castles. In the second half of the 14th century the dukes of Milan closed off the entire Ticino valley, about a kilometre wide, with a long wall, the Murata, which barred the way and made it possible to control and tax the Gotthard traffic. After the defeat at Giornico in 1478 the system was strengthened: Castelgrande on the rock, Montebello on the side of the hill, built at the end of the 13th century by the Rusca family, and higher up Sasso Corbaro, erected just after 1478. Much of what we see today dates from those years.
1499–1500: Milan changes hands. In 1499 King Louis XII of France conquered the Duchy of Milan with the help of about 6,000 Swiss mercenaries, and a thousand French soldiers occupied the castles of Bellinzona. In January 1500, while Ludovico il Moro briefly retook Milan, the people of Bellinzona rebelled and drove out the French. In April, at Novara, the Swiss mercenaries of the two armies refused to fight each other, and Ludovico, disguised in their ranks, was handed over to the French: this was the «betrayal of Novara».
14 April 1500: the fortress surrenders. Left without a lord and fearing the return of France, Bellinzona gave itself to the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden, which had long desired it. The fortress that for more than a century had barred the Confederates' way opened its gates without a fight; the three cantons confirmed the statutes and privileges granted by the dukes of Milan. On 4 March 1501 the bailiwick of Bellinzona was created. With the Peace of Arona of 11 April 1503 Louis XII recognised the three cantons' rule over Bellinzona, the Riviera and the Blenio valley, already occupied by Uri since 1495. The castles changed their names: Castelgrande became the castle of Uri, Montebello that of Schwyz, Sasso Corbaro that of Unterwalden, and until 1529 a mint struck coins for the three cantons.
The rest of Ticino. In the following years, as allies of Pope Julius II against France, the Confederates came down into Lombardy several times. With the campaigns of 1512 and 1513 they obtained Lugano, Locarno, Mendrisio and the Valmaggia, while the Grisons took the Valtellina, Chiavenna and Bormio. After the defeat at Marignano in 1515, the Perpetual Peace of 1516 with King Francis I confirmed almost all these conquests. Switzerland's southern border remained almost the same until the end of the 18th century. The lands south of the Alps were governed as bailiwicks, with bailiffs sent by the cantons, until 1798; in 1803 the Canton of Ticino was born.
The Murata breaks. With no enemy left to the north, the castles lost their function. On 20 May 1515 the «Buzza di Biasca», the flood caused by the collapse of a natural dam in the Blenio valley, swept away part of the Murata, which was never repaired. Each canton kept only a small garrison in its castle.
The castles today. In the 19th century the castles were in ruins: Castelgrande became an arsenal and a prison, Sasso Corbaro a hotel. Montebello was restored between 1902 and 1910, Sasso Corbaro between 1930 and 1935; Castelgrande was transformed between the 1980s and 1992 by the Ticino architect Aurelio Galfetti. Since 2000 the three castles of Bellinzona, with the walls and the Murata, have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Bellinzona seen from Sasso Corbaro, the highest castle: in the foreground Montebello castle, below it the city in the Ticino valley
Photo Ealgiuas, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The «betrayal of Novara», April 1500: Ludovico il Moro, hidden among the Swiss mercenaries, is handed over to the French. Chronicle of Diebold Schilling the Younger, 1513
Diebold Schilling the Younger, Luzerner Schilling, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Bellinzona with its castles and the Murata crossing the valley, in Matthäus Merian's «Topographia Helvetiae», 1654
Matthäus Merian, Swiss National Library, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Murata today: the wall walk on the wall that barred the Ticino valley
Photo Zairon, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Castelgrande on its rock above Piazza del Sole, as redesigned by Aurelio Galfetti
Photo Christian David, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sasso Corbaro, the castle of Unterwalden, built by the dukes of Milan after 1478
Photo Clemensfranz, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5
The Confederation's bailiwicks south of the Alps, with the years of conquest, up to 1798
Map by Marco Zanoli (Sidonius), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Bellinzona mint in the chronicle of Diebold Schilling the Younger, 1513: from 1503 to 1529 it struck coins for Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden
Diebold Schilling the Younger, Luzerner Schilling, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Murata and its exit from Castelgrande in a drawing by Johann Rudolf Rahn, 1889
Johann Rudolf Rahn, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Castelgrande, the castle of Uri: the Torre Nera and the Torre Bianca
Photo Christian David, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Montebello, the castle of Schwyz, among the vineyards
Photo Christian David, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The ruined keep of Sasso Corbaro, drawn by Johann Rudolf Rahn in 1889
Johann Rudolf Rahn, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain