Castello di Montebello

This is definitely my favorite castle of the three in the area. It’s extremely beautiful and quite a hike to get up to, but the views are worth it. Between this and the third, highest castle, the ascent is fairly steep and difficult, but I think the views they give of Bellinzona are about the same more or less. I was much more impressed by the various alleyways and walkways that Montebello had that you could explore. I guess my favorite part about Montebello was the fact that it wasn’t just this one grand open courtyard, but you could really navigate throughout the castle. There’s also a lovely huge grass area that I saw a lot of people laying around and enjoying the sun in. This was a very quintessential medieval like castle, and I highly recommend going to this one if you don’t have the chance to visit the other two!

The second of the three Bellinzona UNESCO world heritage site castles. The walls of Castlegrande connect to Montebello, and it is quite impressive to see the three castles standing strong together (although the third castle is not connected by the walls of the other two). Unlike the Castelgrande, Montebello was not protected by natural features. It is surrounded by deep moats that protected the walls. The castle is a bit smaller than Castlegrande. There is a museum here, but the Sunday we went it was closed, but, the grounds and castle walls free to explore. It was fun to explore and climb around the castle. As it is smaller, it is not quiet as breathtaking as Castlegrande. But, still fun to see. The inner keep dates back to before 1313.

Construit au 13ème siècle, le château de Montebello culmine sur la colline du même nom, à 90 mètres environ au dessus de la ville en dominant le Castelgrande, situé à quelques centaines de mètres.
Un pont-​levis permet de franchir (gratuitement…) le fossé et d’acceder au noyau central autour duquel se sont élevées les lignes de fortification au cours des 14e et 15e siècles.
Depuis le chemin de ronde (ré-​amménagé et élargi avec du caillebottis !), on joui d’une formidable vue sur Bellinzona et sa région…
Un bel exemple de forteresse bâtie suivant les règles de l’architecture Lombarde de l’époque !