Case dei Pagani
Case dei Pagani ("Heidenhäuser"), also Case dei Cröisc (" Wildmannli Houses") or Case digl Grébel ("Heidenhäuser"), are several small medieval fortifications in the Swiss canton of Ticino . Most of them are in the Blenio Valley above the villages of Aquila , Marolta , Dongio , Olivone , Dangio and Malvaglia . Occasionally they also occur in the Valle Leventina ( Chiggiogna ), in the Maggia Valley ( Losone ) and in the Sottoceneri ( Mendrisio ). Outside the Blenio valley, they are also called Castello or Castelli .
general characteristics
The Case dei Pagani were built into the steep rock faces of the valley flanks in extremely difficult to access places. They are protected by overhanging rocks or by natural caves, and access is via ladders and wooden galleries. Only sparse remains of walls have survived from some of the complexes, which can hardly be traced back to the original building. Some of the upper floors of some buildings were probably made of wood. Fireplaces, toilets and small finds prove the habitability.
The lack of documentary evidence of the building and the inaccessible location in the rock walls led to the development of witchcraft and demon legends in popular opinion and to the development of fantastic attempts at interpretation among scholars. The houses are said to have been used to transmit signals or to have been the bases of the Saracens who moved through the Alps around 920. According to a book by Mosè Bertoni (1857–1929) published in 1883, they were also supposed to have been places of retreat for pagans after Christianization , could have contributed to the naming. They are also said to have served as prisons for witches, houses for lepers or as robbers' nests. More recent investigations, including by the architect Lukas Högl, who specializes in medieval buildings, have shown that the Case dei Pagani were probably small castles that were built by local nobles in the early Middle Ages and were used as refuge for them in dangerous times. C-14 dates suggest that it was built in the 3rd to 7th (Malvaglia) or in the 9th to 11th centuries (Dongio 1). In view of the difficult accessibility and supply situation, it is unlikely that they were also used as permanently inhabited dwellings, but it cannot be ruled out entirely.
The impregnable location of the Case dei Pagani made a great wall thickness superfluous; this moves between 50 and 90 centimeters. The walls were built rather carelessly from granite slabs using lime mortar.
Marolta
The small cave castle of Marolta is called Casa dei Cröisc . It stands at an altitude of 600 m above sea level. M. approx. 150 meters northwest of the bridge over the Fruda at the upper exit of the village ⊙ . Erosion below the cave caused by floods in 1978 makes access difficult, so that it can no longer be reached without climbing equipment. In the past, access was via a ladder from a ledge six meters below. Due to its location under an overhanging rock roof, the cave was also well protected against attacks from above.
The cave was partially carved out of the soft rock and forms an irregular square in plan. From the west side, a solid section of wall around 50 centimeters has been preserved, the south side has broken away. The walls are made of gneiss slabs from the stream bed. The front door was in the northwest. It was set in a frame that sat in recesses in the rock and wall. Several depressions in the rock below the cave could be traces of an access construction. Nothing is known about the time of construction.
View into the ravine of the Fruda. The casa is in the shade on the rock face.
View from the southwest
View down the valley
Dongio I
The Casa dei Pagani, visible from afar, is located at an altitude of 620 m above sea level. M. in a high balme in the rock face above the Dongio cemetery . ⊙ It is the most completely preserved cave castle in Ticino. A C14 dating of a scaffold in 1985 suggests that it was built between the 9th and 11th centuries.
The rock face can be reached via a steep forest path. It leads past the ruins of the old village that was buried in 1747. On the wall, an elongated, narrow ledge leads up the valley to below the castle. The ruin of the house can only be entered by dangerous climbing. Since 2017, the last section of the route has been secured by metal chains that you can hold on to.
A distinction can be made between two construction phases. The complex was built between 875 and 1055 and was expanded in the 13th century. How long the settlement lasted can hardly be determined. At the beginning there was a devastating fire in which the wooden superstructure and parts of the front wall were destroyed.
The 14 meter long residential wing is an elongated, two-part building. Of the original four floors, three have been preserved. The raised entrance door led into the three-story north wing. It leads from the ledge into the interior of the building via a staircase consisting of three protruding stone slabs. In the partition wall to the southern part with a different floor division, there was a connecting door on each floor.
The originally three-storey south wing was apparently raised by a storey in a second construction phase, which indicates a more careful construction with selected stone slabs instead of rubble stones. In the south wall of this wing a toilet niche led to the outside. The top floors, which are now made of dry stone, were originally made of wood. At the foot of the ledge that supports the residential wing, sparse remains of other buildings can be seen, about whose purpose nothing is known. On the left, a transverse wall at a higher level blocked access and protected the residential building.
The Dongio complex probably served as a small aristocratic and refuge castle. A corresponding family that could be connected with the castle is not known. The complex was probably abandoned in the course of the 15th century. The system was measured in 1968/69 and 1980.
According to reports that have not been further confirmed, the residents of Dongio are said to have kept a fire in the ruins around 1798 in order to simulate an armed fortress for the invading French. But they were driven out and replaced by French soldiers.
In autumn 2017, the Casa was examined by Dongio and partially rebuilt.
Access route
View to the southeast
Entrance gate
Plant plan
Dongio II
Another Casa dei Pagani in Dongio is located on the lowest rock step of the mountain slope above the Motto part of the village at an altitude of 600 m above sea level. M. ⊙ . If you don't know the exact location, the low remains of the wall cannot be seen from the valley. The facility stood in a wide-open grotto on an artificially spread rock plateau, the largest of the Ticino cave castles . Access was from the southeast via a firmly anchored wooden walkway. Numerous rock workings on the plateau indicate free-standing wooden structures. About 50 meters below, traces of former economic buildings or stables have been preserved at the foot of the rock face.
Archaeological finds suggest a longer dwelling. Charred wood indicates possible fire damage. In contrast to the Malvaglia complex, there are no signs of reconstruction here.
The sparse remains of the wall can hardly be seen
View of the remains of the wall
Malvaglia
The Casa dei Pagani in Malvaglia is the most inaccessible of all Ticino cave castles. It stands at an altitude of 515 m above sea level. M. high above the village in the middle of a vertical rock face 50 meters below the Cappella San Nicolao at the exit of the Orino Gorge ⊙ . Above the hamlet of Pianezza, an extremely exposed traverse leads through the wall in a westerly direction from the edge of the gorge to the castle. The ledge with the access is only 10 to 30 centimeters wide for the first 10 meters, then a 4 meter wide couloir follows . The castle itself stood on a 15 meter long and 3 meter wide ledge. The western wall, which can be seen from afar and arches up to the overhanging rock face, has been well preserved. The entrance door is set into the wall. The remaining parts of the building were made of wood. Numerous beam and post holes have been preserved in the rock. Different mortar compositions and wall joints suggest several construction phases. Anchoring holes in support beams are evidence of a wooden access walkway over the ledge and couloir. In front of the entrance was a cantilevered platform.
Between 1975 and 1978 the Malvaglia complex was scientifically examined. Numerous small finds could be recovered. Thanks to the protected location, objects made of perishable material such as wooden vessels were well preserved in the dry earth. Metal jewelry, fine scales and coins from the time between 1150 and 1300 are evidence of the high class of the residents. The oldest arrow irons date from the 10th century, the youngest from around 1400. A fragment of a parchment document with legible writing is dated September 1, 1308. In the corner of the gate wall, two fireplaces from different construction phases were uncovered. There is no written evidence of the builder.
After being destroyed towards the end of the 12th century, the system was defended and rebuilt at the beginning of the 13th century by lowering the height of the wall shield and weakening the gate system. Numerous small finds show that the complex was intensively inhabited until the 14th or 15th century. It was probably also used as a residence for members of the local ruling class.
Look into the gorge. On the right is the hamlet of Pianezza
literature
- Lukas Högl: Casa dei Pagani. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Lukas Högl: Castles in the Rock An examination of the medieval cave-grottos and Balmburgen in Switzerland. Walter-Verlag, Olten 1986.
- Werner Meyer , Eduard Widmer: The great castle book of Switzerland. Ex libris, Zurich 1977.
- Werner Meyer: Ticino grotto castles. In: Nachrichten des Schweizerischen Burgenverein 41, 1968, 258–263.
- Werner Meyer: Castles of Switzerland. Volume 2. Silva Verlag, Zurich 1983.
- Mosé Bertoni: Le Case dei pagani (Italian). Edited by Peter Schrembs. La Baronata, Lugano 1996.
Web links
- SRF contribution from September 28, 2017
- Julius Effenberger: Case dei pagani - the mysterious «pagan houses» in the Blenio valley, in NZZ from March 23, 2000
- Werner Meyer: Ticino cave castles, in: News of the Swiss Castle Association
- Casa dei Pagani by Dongio
- Casa dei Pagani of Malvaglia
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to Vocabolario dei dialetti della Svizzera italiana (VSI), Volume VII, pp. 164–166, article crósc are the cröisc (so the Bleniotal dialect variant) figure misteriose che si riteneva vivessero ritirate in zone isolate e impervie nelle vicinanze dei villagi . They are described as small, sometimes malformed, strong and with an eye in the middle of the forehead and are said to live in caves, ravines or the case dei pagani ; some are considered harmless and funny, some child robbers and some (namely in Olivone ) the inventors of cheese making.
- ↑ According to Lessico dialettale della Svizzera italiana (article still pending in the VSI), Grébel can mean “coarse”, “rough”, “slouching”, “boorish”, but also “incredulous”; In view of the standard Italian name casa dei pagani , the latter translation is most likely to apply.
- ↑ swisscastles.ch
- ↑ a b Lukas Högl: Casa dei Pagani. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . March 16, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2018 .
- ↑ Lukas Högl: Castles in the Rock An examination of the medieval cave-grottos and Balmburgen in Switzerland , p. 166.
- ↑ swisscastles.ch
- ^ Article by SRF from September 28, 2017
- ↑ Swisscastles
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