{"id":11917,"date":"2026-05-17T11:04:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceresio5valli.it\/?post_type=poi&p=11917"},"modified":"2026-05-17T11:04:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:04:36","slug":"borgo-di-castello-valsolda","status":"publish","type":"poi","link":"https:\/\/ceresio5valli.it\/en\/poi\/borgo-di-castello-valsolda\/","title":{"rendered":"Borgo di Castello in Valsolda"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the rocky spur that closes the Valsolda, among the alleys that have raised generations of painters and architects.<\/em><\/p>\n

Castle (in the Como dialect Castle<\/em>) is a fraction of the municipality of Valsolda<\/a>, located at 451 metres above sea level, perched on a sheer rocky spur overlooking the Ceresio<\/a>. The slope is less steep towards San Mamete and more impervious in the part towards Puria, nicknamed for this reason \u201cAt the pizza\u201d<\/em>. The houses are arranged in a semicircle, leaning against each other, following the medieval defensive system; alleys, stairways, porticoes, and ravines compose a building fabric dating from the 16th to 19th centuries, with frequent remains from earlier periods. The village currently has fewer than fifty inhabitants and no commercial establishments.<\/p>\n

Origins and prehistory<\/h2>\n

The Castello area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Around 1870, during an excavation at the foot of a rock right where the castle once stood, a cache of bronze axes dating from the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age was discovered: they are the oldest documented metal objects in the entire area.<\/p>\n

The Confalonieri Castle<\/h2>\n

The toponym derives from castrum<\/em>At the top of the village stood the ancient fortress of the Milanese Confalonieri family, involved in the Ten-Year War between Como and Milan (1118-1127). A drawing by Pezzana from 1612 depicts it as pentagonal in shape with a tower at each corner; the actual dimensions in the ruins, still legible today, are approximately twenty meters per side. The castle was demolished at the end of the sixteenth century by order of Gian Giacomo Medici, known as \u201cil Medeghino,\u201d in agreement with his Swiss neighbors.<\/p>\n

The ruins remained visible until after World War II: in 1946, an English private individual, Edmond Schiwerdt, purchased the site and attempted a partial reconstruction, which was never completed. Today, the reconstructed portion is a private residence, while the chapel of the ancient castle has survived intact: it is the current Oratory of Our Lady of Sorrows.<\/p>\n

\nCastle and the Cathar heresy<\/summary>\n
\n

The last recorded castellan is Stefano Confalonieri di Agliate, a Milanese nobleman who in the mid-13th century had turned the castle into a refuge for Cathars. Stefano was himself a Cathar, belonging to the Cathar church of Concorezzo. On April 6, 1252, he helped organize the murder of Friar Pietro da Verona, a Dominican inquisitor, killed in the Barlassina forest while returning from Como to Milan.<\/p>\n

The trial lasted 43 years: Stefano confessed his role in 1257 before the inquisitor Raniero Sacconi in the rectory of Crescenzago, and was finally condemned only in 1295. The martyrdom of Peter of Verona is depicted in numerous churches of Valsolda, including the parish church of San Martino a Castello<\/a>, where his presence takes on the meaning of a local and not just devotional memory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n

The Oratory of Our Lady of Sorrows<\/h2>\n

At the highest point of the village, on Via alla Rocca, stands the oldest building in Castello: the Oratory of the Blessed Virgin of Sorrows, formerly the castle's private chapel. The architectural structure is Romanesque (11th-12th century), recognizable by the pointed-arch vaulting and stone capitals.<\/p>\n

The titles over time reflect its layered history. Originally titled Sancti Martini in arce<\/em> (\u201cSan Martino nella rocca\u201d), became in the seventeenth century Crucis alias Sancti Martini in arce<\/em> \u2014dedication recorded in the visitation records of Cardinal Cesare Monti, Archbishop of Milan\u2014due to the presence of a wooden crucifix. In 1745, the priest Don Domenico Antonio Pagani, parish priest of Castello and vicar forane of Valsolda, restored the oratory and gave it its current dedication. At that time, the central stucco niche, the altar, the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows with the Dead Christ, and the statues of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Charles Borromeo were built.<\/p>\n

In the early 20th century, the parish priest Don Fedele Rusca erected an iron cross on the castle esplanade in memory of the fallen, which was later moved next to the small church. An ancient painting depicting a saint, dating to the early 14th century, was recently discovered, likely from a demolished section of the chapel or from a portico that connected it to the castle.<\/p>\n

From the churchyard, you can enjoy a 360-degree view of the entire valley. The oratory can be visited upon request or, from June to September, on the first Sunday of the month.<\/p>\n

\n

Historiographical note.<\/strong> The title \u201cSan Martino\u201d originally belonged to this high chapel (in ark<\/em>); it then migrated to the new parish church in the valley, leaving the chapel of the fortress free to take on its current dedication in the eighteenth century.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Sons of Castello: A Hotbed of Emigrant Artists<\/h2>\n

Castello is one of the hubs of the great phenomenon of the Comacine craftsmen: between the 16th and 18th centuries, the village exported an anomalous concentration of painters, sculptors, and architects to Italy and Europe.<\/p>\n