Torre di Roncisvalle

The Torre di Roncisvalle (also known as the Tower of Castionetto or the Tower of Roncisvalle ) is a tower at 689 meters above sea level in the Castionetto district of the municipality of Chiuro with a view of the Valtellina in northern Italy . According to tradition, it once belonged to Stefano Quadrio.

Names

The name "Tower of Roncisvalle" refers to the legendary pilgrimage station Roncesvalles in Navarra (Spain) and is also noted in notarial documents from the Middle Ages. In a document from 1460, Maria Maffina sells the following to Andrea Maffina:

“La vigna, il campo, la selva, la canipa (1), l'astregata (2), lo stabulo con masione (3), cucina a focho murata (4), due corti e andeto (5) in contrada de Castione ubi dictor ad dossum majorem seu ad Ronzivallem ”

"Vineyard, field, woodland, storage room, workshop, barn with haystack, kitchen with stove, two courtyards and a right of way to the Castionetto district, known as Dosso Maggiore, namely at Roncisvalle"

The scholar Cesare Segre derives the name of the tower from the etymon "roscida valle", damp valley, and "roscidare" or sprinkle, but also "ronco" and "runchet" from "runcare", the reclamation of a plot of land for new vineyards.

Stylized map with the historical names of the paths starting from the tower

description

The structure with a length and width of 11 m and a height of 15 m is much larger than the others in the area that have been preserved. In view of the solid structure with walls that are 2.5 m wide at the base, the building certainly served not only as a watch tower, but also as a defense tower. In 1487, under Zenone Groppello, he successfully resisted the Graubünden invasion attempt .

The tower was built with the characteristic construction techniques of Lombard architecture, which is also reflected in the materials and details used, including the pointed arched windows with lintels made of stone. The uniform design of the facades is based on the structural decision to standardize dimensions and materials, which is clearly evident from the stone layers and corner stones with the characteristic bosses.

The entrance used to be on the first floor and was accessed via a drawbridge operated in a room above. Today's entrance, however, used to serve as a passage. The two barrel vaulted rooms on the ground floor and the first floor are connected by a stone staircase.

The tower was recently renovated after centuries of neglect and has been open to visitors since 2003.

history

The exact year of construction is unknown, but the tower was built between the 13th and 15th centuries. This was the period of greatest prosperity for the Quadrio family, who moved from Como to Chiuro around the 12th century due to the conflict between the Ghibellines and Guelphs .

Between the end of the 14th and the middle of the 15th century, the economic and political development of the village of Chiuro flourished under the general Stefano Quadrio. He owned a castle in Sazzo, a district of Ponte in Valtellina, and had a fortified mansion "ad Visnatem" built in what is now Via Torre von Chiuro. Chiuro had numerous towers, which can still be seen today on the lower part of the structures erected on them.

The commander Zenone Gropello of the Sforza family used the tower together with the fortifications in Chiuro as a base when the Grisons invaded Valtellina for the first time between 1486 and 1487.

The tower of Castionetto was probably destroyed during the Graubünden rule, like all other fortifications in today's province of Sondrio, so that rule in the conquered land was better secured.

In a document in the church register of Chiuro from 1622, the tower and the surrounding land are registered as the property of the religious community "Scuola del Rosario". The property went to the community "Scuola del SS. Sacramento" at the beginning of the 19th century.

After that it is considered in the land registers of the Catasto Lombardo-Veneto as property of the municipality of Chiuro. A document from the notary Lavizzari shows that the land and the tower were expropriated in 1885 and became the property of the municipality.

Then it was forgotten for many years - but has not lost any of its monumental character.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Atto notarile medievale del 1460
2. ^ Egidio Pedrotti: Castelli e Torri Valtellinesi. [Castles and towers of Valtellina] Milan 1957.
3. ↑ Documento datato 1622 del'archivio parrocchiale di Castionetto di Chiuro .
4. ↑ Catasto Lombardo .
5. ↑ Rogito Lavizzari 1885 .
6. ↑ Laura Porta: Tesi di laurea: Aspetti dell'economia fra Trecento e Quattrocento: Gaudenzio e Stefano Quadrio . Ed .: Università degli studi di Milano. Milan 1982.
7. ↑ Armida Bombardieri, Tarcisio Della Ferrera: Censimento dei beni culturali, Quaderni della Provincia n.9 . Ed .: Amministrazione Provinciale di Sondrio. Sondrio 1990.
8. ^ Franco Monteforte, Ellida Schiappadini: Chiuro . Ed .: Amministrazione Comunale di Chiuro. Chiuro 1989.
9. ↑ Augusta Corbellini: Una carta imperfetta: conferme e precisazioni su Stefano Quadrio ei suoi discendenti . Ed .: Amministrazione Comunale di Chiuro. Chiuro 2011.

Coordinates: 46 ° 10 ′ 53.6 ″  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 0.2 ″  E