Castel Baradello is the ruined castle that overlooks Como from a hill to the south-west of the city, inside the Spina Verde regional park: its square keep can be recognised from many points in the centre. It can only be reached on foot and the tower is visited on a guided tour, on Sundays and public holidays during the season.
History
The hill controls the entrance to Como from the south, on the Milan side. On the summit the Byzantines built a stronghold in the sixth century, the castrum Baractelia that George of Cyprus lists among the fortresses of the limes defending Lake Como. Of that first phase there remain an inner wall on a trapezoidal plan, an apsed chapel dedicated to San Nicolò, a small tower-house and a barrel-vaulted cistern. The sources disagree on the fate of that fort in 1127, the year the Milanese destroyed Como: for the Società Archeologica Comense it was destroyed, for Wikipedia nobody knows what became of it.
The castle seen today is mostly the work of Frederick Barbarossa. When Como, an ally of the emperor, rebuilt its walls, in 1158 the Baradello was rebuilt too: the keep rose on the rock, with a base of about 8.2 by 8.35 metres and a height of 19.5 metres, crowned with Guelph battlements, and the wall was raised. The Touring Club dates the tower to 1156, the other sources to 1158. In 1160 Frederick, beaten at Carcano by the Lombard League, took refuge here with the people of Como; after Legnano, in 1176, he gave the castle to the Church and the community of Como.
Napo Torriani is bound to the tower: captured after the battle of Desio in 1277, he was shut in a cage hung on the outside of the keep and died there of starvation on 16 August 1278.
Under the Visconti the tower grew by eight metres, with Ghibelline battlements, and a second wall with a pointed-arch portal was added, along with the mill and oven rooms, quarters for the troops and a storehouse. The Società Archeologica attributes this work to Azzone Visconti, in the fourteenth century; the Touring Club speaks of a raising in the fifteenth century, and Wikipedia also mentions works between 1426 and 1436.
The Spanish dismantled the castle and spared only the tower. The Comune writes «after 1526», Wikipedia gives August 1527; according to the Società Archeologica the order came from Antonio de Leyva, Charles V’s lieutenant, and was carried out by the governor Pedro Arias. The complex stayed a ruin until the restoration of 1902-1903, which cleared tower and cistern of the collapsed rubble, restored the outer staircase and added the inner floors and a panoramic platform. Further works followed in 1971 and 2011.
What to see
The guided visit includes the first two circuits of walls, the climb inside the tower and the terrace with a 360-degree view (Slow Lake Como). The tower holds a museum route with the finds from the excavations that the architect Luigi Mario Belloni led in the 1970s and the materials that emerged in the 2008-2010 campaigns of the Musei Civici di Como; the display came from a collaboration between the Archaeological Museum, the Spina Verde Park and the Soprintendenza (Comune di Como).
You go in by climbing an outer staircase hanging about 15 metres above the ground, something to bear in mind if you suffer from vertigo. The floors and the terrace can only be reached by stairs.
From the outermost wall you can make out the start of the Murata, the wall that in the Middle Ages closed the valley of Como from the south as far as the hill now called Cappelletta. Nothing is left of the rest of its course, apart from a short stretch that emerged in the 2010 excavations.
Practical information
- Access: on foot only. According to the Comune it takes 15-20 minutes on foot from piazza Camerlata, with a modest climb; the Park speaks of about 20 minutes on the path. The Touring Club instead describes a road by car to a stopping point and then about a quarter of an hour on foot: that description is older, so follow the Comune and Park indications.
- When: in 2026 the castle is open from 1 March to 31 October, on Sundays and public holidays from 9.30 to 18.00, with guided tours every hour (Parco Spina Verde, Oggi a Como). The calendar of Slow Lake Como, the concessionaire, lists the Sundays 11, 18 and 25 October as of 5 October. On Saturdays there are evening tours by booking, leaving from piazza Camerlata. The Comune page, updated in 2024, says «Saturday, Sunday and holidays»: the 2026 data from the Park and the concessionaire say Sundays and holidays, and for the Touring Club (an old description) the castle is closed in October.
- The tour lasts about 40 minutes for the Park and about 45 for Slow Lake Como; it is in Italian and, on request, in English.
- 2026 prices: adults 10 euros, children aged 6 to 14 7 euros, free up to 5 years old; free for people with disabilities and their companion. Adults who are FAI members or hold the ticket for the Ecoplanetario in Tradate, the Museo della Barca Lariana, Villa Bernasconi or Villa Carlotta pay 7 euros, at the ticket office only. Booking online adds a 6% fee.
- Contacts: Slow Lake Como, info@slowlakecomo.com, +39 375 8549221; Ente Parco Spina Verde, +39 031 211131. Dogs are allowed, but the outer staircase may frighten them.
- Hours and prices are those of the 2026 season: check them again for 2027. The castle is the last stop of the itinerary Medieval Como.
Sources
- Comune di Como, Castel Baradello (page updated on 22/8/2024)
- Parco Spina Verde, Aperture Castel Baradello 2026 (27/2/2026)
- Oggi a Como, Castel Baradello
- Slow Lake Como, Ticket Castel Baradello
- Società Archeologica Comense, Le mura di Como, chapter 4 and chapter 1
- Touring Club Italiano, Castello Baradello
- Wikipedia, entry Castel Baradello.
