| Battle of Castione | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the transalpine campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Uri |  Golden Ambrosian Republic | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Giovanni della Noce | |||||||
The Battle of Castione was fought on 6 July 1449 between the Golden Ambrosian Republic (Milan) and the Swiss canton of Uri. The site of the battle is near that of the earlier Battle of Arbedo, both in the territory of the current-day municipality of Arbedo-Castione in the Swiss canton of Ticino.
The cause of both battles was the contest for control of the nearby fortified city of Bellinzona, which at the time was at the point of overlap of the spheres of influence of the Old Swiss Confederacy and the Duchy of Milan. Control of Bellinzona was the strategic key to controlling the Gotthard Pass and the valleys of Ticino and Misox. Uri had won Bellinzona in 1419, but lost it again as a result of the Battle of Arbedo of 1422.
In 1439, Uri launched a renewed campaign to regain the valleys in the southern Alps, and in 1441 forced Milan to yield the Leventina (which had already come under Swiss control in 1430). The Milanese War of Succession that followed the death of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti in 1447 and the formation of the Golden Ambrosian Republic encouraged Uri to push towards Bellinzona once again.
In early 1449, Uri occupied Leventina and the Riviera, reaching as far as Bellinzona. The Golden Ambrosian Republic charged condottiero Giovanni della Noce with leading the campaign against the Swiss to re-establish Milanese control over the Sottoceneri. [1] On 9 July 1449, in a battle which lasted for most of the day, the Milanese defeated and put to flight the forces of Uri near the village of Castione, north of Bellinzona. [1] The village was burned down, and Uri was forced to retreat to the Misox. Milan secured control over Bellinzona and the Riviera.
A formal peace treaty was enacted in 1450, and in 1466, Milan agreed to grant the Leventina to Uri permanently. The defeat at Castione halted Swiss expansion south of the Alps for several decades, [1] until the Confederate campaign of 1478, and the Swiss victory in the Battle of Giornico in 1487.
In Swiss historiography, the account of the Battle of Castione was corrupted because historian Theodor von Liebenau (1840–1914) confused it with the Battle of Castiglione Olona (1450), fought between the Ambrosian Republic and forces of Francesco I Sforza. [1] Proper identification of the battle was left to historians of the 20th century. [2]
Ticino, sometimes Tessin, officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts and its capital city is Bellinzona. It is also traditionally divided into the Sopraceneri and the Sottoceneri, respectively north and south of Monte Ceneri. Red and blue are the colours of its flag.
The river Ticino is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows.
The canton of Uri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss between the St. Gotthard Pass and Lake Lucerne.
There are 106 municipalities in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland,. Municipalities (comuni) are grouped in circles (circoli) which are part of districts (distretti).
Bellinzona ( BEL-in-ZOH-nə; Italian:[bellinˈtsoːna]; is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000.
The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire, to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains. The Hohenstaufen emperors had granted these valleys reichsfrei status in the early 13th century. As reichsfrei regions, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden were under the direct authority of the emperor without any intermediate liege lords and thus were largely autonomous.
In the Battle of Giornico a Swiss force of 600 defeated 10,000 Milanese troops.
The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass at 2,106 m (6,909 ft) is a mountain pass in the Alps traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif and connecting northern Switzerland with southern Switzerland. The pass lies between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, and Andermatt in the German-speaking canton of Uri, and connects further Bellinzona and Lugano to Lucerne, Basel, and Zürich. The Gotthard Pass lies at the heart of the Gotthard, a major transport axis of Europe, and it is crossed by three traffic tunnels, each being the world's longest at the time of their construction: the Gotthard Rail Tunnel (1882), the Gotthard Road Tunnel (1980) and the Gotthard Base Tunnel (2016). With the Lötschberg to the west, the Gotthard is one of the two main north-south routes through the Swiss Alps.
Bellinzona was the name of a canton of the Helvetic Republic, with its capital in Bellinzona.
Biasca is a town of the district of Riviera in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
Pollegio is a municipality in the district of Leventina in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, located in the lower Leventina.
The Battle of Arbedo was fought on 30 June 1422 between the Duchy of Milan and the Swiss Confederation, and ended with a Milanese victory.
The Castles of Bellinzona are a group of fortifications located around the town of Bellinzona, the capital of the Swiss canton of Ticino. Situated on the Alpine foothills, the group is composed of fortified walls and three castles named Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro. Castelgrande is located on a rocky peak overlooking the valley, with a series of walls that protect the old city and connect to Montebello. Sasso Corbaro, the highest of the three castles, is located on an isolated rocky promontory south-east of the other two. The Castles of Bellinzona with their defensive walls have been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.
Subdivisions of the canton of Ticino, Switzerland, are the 108 comuni grouped into 38 circoli, which in turn form a part or the whole of one of the eight districts.
Visconti Castle Italian: Castello Visconteo is a castle in Locarno, Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
The transalpine campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy were military expeditions which resulted in the conquest of territories south of the Alps, corresponding more or less to the modern canton of Ticino, on the part of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the 15th and 16th centuries. These territories were known as ennetbirgische Vogteien or "transmontane bailiwicks".
Castione is a Swiss village in Ticino. It may also refer to some places in Italy:
Uri is a Swiss Talschaft and canton in the upper Reuss valley.
The noble family von Sax or Saxe was a medieval noble family in eastern Switzerland. They owned estates and castles on both sides of the Alps in the modern cantons of St. Gallen, Graubünden and Ticino. The origin of the family is unknown, but they probably stem from Churrätien nobility and were related to the da Torre family. The family divided into two main lines; the Grafen (counts) von Sax-Misox and the Freiherren (barons) von Hohensax.
The Milanese War of Succession was a war of succession over the Duchy of Milan from the death of duke Filippo Maria Visconti on 13 August 1447 to the Treaty of Lodi on 9 April 1454.
