Castles & ruins 44: Mesocco Castle, CH

 

A huge rock at the end of the Mesolcina valley was the perfect place for a fortress: whoever held it could control the valley and the road from Lombardy (Milan and the Italian plains) toward the Rhine world, the German lands, and the north. 

Although so far archaeologists cannot confirm a Roman fort on this exact rock, there were towers and tall collectors here. The earliest known fortified site at the place is the church of San Carpoforo, probably from around the 7th century, near the later castle. The castle itself dates back to the 12th century. 

Mesocco Castle was built and for a long time belonged to the local Sacco family, later known as Sax-Misox. Baron Albert von Sax-Misox was one of the founding members of the Grey League, the beginning of the Grisons canton as we know it today. 

But the power of the family soon overflowed the valley — and, obviously, started to irritate the neighbours, especially the Duke of Milan. In 1480, family misfortunes forced them to sell Mesocco Castle to the Milanese general Giacomo Trivulzio for 16,000 Rhenish gulden (cca 50 million CHF in today’s purchasing-power equivalent).

The general paid half the price and was allowed to start moving in. But once his men, army, and supplies were inside the castle, he simply locked the gate and refused to pay the rest. The locals could not get him out. They had no real army, and the stronghold was almost impossible to take or besiege. They complained to Milan, but the Duke refused to do anything (I bet he was laughing his ass off). 

Trivulzio stayed in the castle and later he managed to get along with the locals, and even supported them against the Duke of Milan (he wasn't really a loyal pall). Under him, the castle was strengthened and modernized as a military fortress. In 1526, the Grey League and Trivulzio finally agreed to leave old quarrels behind, and the general moved from the castle to a more luxurious residence in town of Roveredo, down in the valley. 

By then the castle was already becoming outdated as a military asset. Still, the League ordered it destroyed. They were afraid the same situation could happen again, with another lord or general locking himself inside this monster of a fortress and refusing to leave. So they made sure it could not be restored. Restoration began only in the 1920s — this time not as a fortress, but as a historical site. Today, the ruins are free to visit all year round.

Several legends surround the castle: the usual hidden treasures, especially those of the cunning general, and white ladies lurking among the ruins. But some stories are more original — for example, the one about the dragon: One spring morning, the people of the valley heard a strange sound from the sky: hissing, swooshing, something they had never heard before. At first they were afraid. Then they saw what was making the sound, and fear turned into terror. High above the mountains was a huge flying serpent. 

People hid in their houses. Knights in the castle prepared to fight the beast, but it never came down to them. It hunted cattle in the mountains, and here and there forest fires appeared after it passed. Nobody could catch it. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the dragon vanished. But a few months later, the goats in the valley gave birth to strange, deformed young. Some had two heads. Some had scales. Some looked more like little monsters than goats. It seemed the dragon had been rather fond of the valley’s goats.

The castle also belongs to a darker history. Witch hunts really did take place in Mesolcina. Around 150 people were processed,according to documents from 14-15th centuries, and several were executed on absurd charges. Even taming a fox was treated as a sign of witchcraft. And the legends did not die with the trials. They say that even today, witches still gather in the abandoned castle, disguised as cats, performing their unholy rituals to harm people and their cattle.

from above: Mesocco castle