The train ride from Milan, Italy to Bellinzona is easily the most beautiful journey I’ve ever taken. I’d just spent a month in Tuscany and was making my way by train slowly to Munich, Germany to catch a direct flight back to Denver. Milan was my last stop in Italy and I was excited to see Switzerland. If you ask me, the city of Milan itself is nothing to write home about, with the major exception of the breathtaking Gothic cathedral. If you go, make sure you go up to the top so you can walk among the spires and enjoy the view.
Once you get past the city, you’re in the mountains with storybook villages perched alongside crystal lakes. Passing the majestic Lake Cuomo, you see towns and villages so picture-perfect you’re tempted to get off and have a wander.
If you make it to Bellinzona, though, you’re rewarded with a charming town with more than enough loveliness to delight you for several days. Cafes and bakeries with hand-painted facades, a beautiful cathedral, and of course, the castles. They’re a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and rightfully so.
The first one is hard to miss: The aptly-named Castelgrande rises up from the rocks at the center of town, right next to a well-stocked Migros Grocery store. The first fortifications on the Castelgrande site were built in the first century BC, and the current structure has been there since the 1470s. Much more recently, an elevator has been installed that allows you to go up to the grassy fields at the top without climbing. The elevator is free and open to the public!
Just across the main street, you can find clearly marked walking paths to other two castles, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro. You pass by sheep grazing in the meadows as you walk up country roads and unpaved paths to the higher castles. Montebello is stunningly picturesque with its turrets, high walkways, and two working drawbridges. There’s a playground outside the moats that Danny would have loved now, but was slightly too young for when we were there. The highest castle, Sasso Corbaro, has a timeless, forlorn, Fall of the House of Usher type feel to it. Stark, surrounded by old trees and approached by a rocky path, it’s well worth the extra effort.
We were lucky enough to be there in April, so were treated to views enshrouded in morning mists that burned off in the afternoons to reveal snowy mountains and lakes in the distance. The slightly chilly air was perfect for hiking, especially with a 14-month-old baby strapped to my chest.
On the weekends, the main road through town (the one you’ll walk in on from the train station) is filled with food trucks and vendors in tents selling handmade crafts, clothes, cheese, produce, bread, and, at one stall, pakoras and samosas if you’re craving some authentic Indian street food.
The ice cream shop at the foot of the path up to Montebello and Sasso Corbaro had some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had, which is not a claim I make lightly. Dense, creamy, heavy goodness!
Bellinzona is definitely one of the places I would have stayed longer if I’d researched it before I arrived, but where’s the fun in that? If I ever find myself taking a train from Italy to Germany again as I was when I discovered this gem, I will look forward to a return visit to Bellinzona, right after a few days on Lake Cuomo!
