medieval fortifications | schwingeninswitzerland

is an historical passage in Geneva’s old town. You enter at the top of the Rue du Perron (by No. 19) and exit off the alley Monetier, at the base of the old ramparts. The passage zig zags between medieval buildings for around 100 meters (328 feet), narrowing to 50 cm (20 inches)!

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Given layout between residential buildings, darkness and narrowness, it’s not surprising that this secret passage is open to the public only during the last two days of Geneva’s Escalade festivities. The rest of the year, it is closed. Get in on the action this weekend while you still can!

Occupied since Roman times, Geneva is ancient. Over time, Geneva grew and extended its fortifications. The passage began as a simple path between early fortifications sometime during the 600-1100 A.D. that protected the hill of Saint-Pierre (on which Cathedral St. Pierre sits).

In the Middle Ages buildings weren’t glued to each other. As new fortifications and buildings were built, Passage Monetier became a passage or alley. It took on its current route around 1300-1400 A.D. and allows access from one neighborhood to another without detours. Without indoor plumbing alleys served as an open sewers and it probably didn’t smell great.

The Savoyards came along the Aarve River, assembled at Plainpalais and attacked from the back of the city.

There’s an urban myth that says the passage had something to do with the surprise attack by Savoyard troops sent by Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy during the night of 11–12 December 1602 to attack Geneva. Alas, it is just that, a myth. Neither attacks, nor the battle that night took place near there. Its opening merely serves as one of the festivities comprising L’Escalade festival which celebrates Geneva’s win and usually occurs in 12th of December.

L’Escalade à Genève, 1602. The Escalade in Geneva in 1602. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Weekend From 1602: Celebrating Geneva’s l’Escalade (livingingeneva.wordpress.com)

From Lugano, we took a day trip to Bellinzona. Bellinzona’s three medieval castles (Castelgrande, Castello di Montebello and Castello di Sasso Corbaro) and their fortifications are among the most important examples of medieval defensive architecture in the Alps. These fortifications are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Living in Switzerland, we have castle fatigue. Poor us. We happily forego an opportunity to see castles if they aren’t great. My buddy Rick Steves’ has a list of Europe’s 10 best castles. I’ve been lucky enough to see a fair number of them and some others, like Windsor Castle, that didn’t make his list. You can’t swing a dead cat in Switzerland without hitting a castle or the ruins of one (sometimes they’re cooler than the ones still standing). As a UNESCO World Heritage site, Bellinzona’s castles were supposed to be pretty good and they were definitely worth the trip.

Castelgrande is Bellinzona’s oldest and largest castle. It overlooks the Old Town. They have built an ingenious elevator/stair system that allows to visitors access the castle from the rock underneath, from inside. It beats the old school method of scaling the walls. Castelgrande has a little museum with a cool video that documents Bellinzona’s history and the history of its castles.

Wear whatever you want, but I’d imagine that it is hard to climb the ramparts in these bad boys.

The castles of Montebello and Sasso Cobaro are up the hill above the town. Although floods destroyed a large part of the medieval fortifications, large chunks of the immense wall remain. You can see them the photo above.

If you were to ask an eight year-old to draw a castle, they would draw Montebello. It looks like your stereotypical castle. We climbed the ramparts, posed on the drawbridge and enjoyed the wonderful views. Montebello’s interior buildings contain a museum with archaeological discoveries and artifacts from Bellinzona that date back to Roman times.

Montebello’s museum also had weaponry. I had to get a picture with the gun that was about my size. Who in the heck was large enough to fire this thing?

Magglio, the Luger and Sneaky Pete, got disbelieving looks and thumbs up from people when we told them we hiked up to Castello di Sasso Corbaro. It was a beautiful day and the views were even better. From there, you could easily see the mountain passes come together just north of Bellinzona and why it was so strategically important (click here for a panoramic view).