Castel Grumello: The Castle That Looks at Sondrio

A castle, or rather, two, landscapes that enchant and a leap in the Medieval history of Lombardy. Let's visit Castel Grumello, which guards Sondrio and the valley from its "spur".

Glimpses of ruins and little churches stand tall among rows of vines. Terracings draw the slope of the mountain, pointing at the way to reach mysterious places, which look so far away and yet are just a walk away from the valley. From Sondrio, you look up and Castello de Piro greets you from the spur on which it sets.

Leggi in italiano

When we visit a castle, usually we imagine to dive in rich and bright atmospheres, we prepare, curious, to take a look at the lives of the lords who lived there. But sometimes, the castle has a different story to tell: it has no luxurious sitting-rooms, but ruins of vigilant control towers; it doesn’t show its decorated facades in the town centre, but guards it from above.

Walking among the ruins of Castel Grumello and the findings of its archaeological sites is like stepping in a film set in Medieval Age, constantly changing point of view: while we face the staircase that climbs on the mountain and reach the entrance, we still are modern visitors who start to perceive the authority that this castle represented in the past; once passed the threshold, our mind rebuilds what time has destroyed, as if we look throw the eyes of a soldier; finally, we rest in the spaces inhabited by the owners of the castle. Beneath us, the terraces cultivated with vineyards; above us, the Raethian Alps.

Castel Grumello

Castel Grumello, which the official name is Castello de Piro al Grumello, was built around 1300 on a “grumo”, a rock spur, a strategic position to control the whole underlying territory. Its lord was Corrado de Piro.

In a morning with the blue sky and a nice breeze, we leave Sondrio to reach and visit those ruins that, visible from any point of the town, attract with their old and mysterious allure. In 1990, the castle was donated from Società Enologica Valtellinese to Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano (FAI), that makes a commendable work to promote and keep it open throughout the year.

We go up along the steep street and greet the little Sant’Antonio’s Church as we pass near it; we leave the paved road and tale the rock staircase that brings us to destination, to the entrance of the castle. Fig branches come out to the side, a big agave frames the door, rosemary and lavender bushes fill the air with the scent of Mediterrean scrub. 

We discover a peculiar feature of Castel Grumello: it’s a double castle. We’re in front of two separated castles, incorporated in the same fortified walls, one with a military purpose and the other with a residential one.

The military castle

Once crossed the threshold, we’re in the castle that had the function of defending the territory from assaults. The tall watchtower, which raise from the rock, is the distinctive sign of the task of this construction. If they saw a danger, it was immediately communicated to the twin castle, near, but far enough to take action.

Beyond a door in the walls, there is a walk in the archaeological site. Actually, we’re walking inside the castle, now open-air. Room perimeters are well recognizable and the findings of a spur and a glove tell about those who walked in this corridor before us, when instead of this green grass there was a solid pavement and a roof instead of this blue sky. 

As we walk toward the residential castle, we enjoy the sight of the green lawn alternated with the red of a corridor of American vine, which guides the sight toward the castle; the Orobie Alps and the blue sky are the backdrop. 

Now and then we stop to admire the landscape: beneath us there’s Sondrio, busy with its daily business, and Adda river, which we can see shining under the sun rays. The noises of the town are far away and we enjoy this peaceful bubble made of nature, history, architecture and archaeology. Meanwhile, we have reached the other castle.

The residential castle

Time and enemies had been cruel with this part of the castle either. Just some parts of it has remained , like the structure of a chimney in a room, the base of a tower, which most likely communicated with its twin, and the crenellated walls.

Obviously, there are defensive components, like loopholes used by archers. There are two types of them here: a “classic” one and a cross-shaped one. They are at eye level and we can’t resist the temptation to see how they would have seen the surroundings from those posts. A very small portion of that immense panorama that we saw earlier is revealed from these narrow gaps. We wonder how those archers could do their duty with this limited view. After all, they could not do otherwise.

We come back to a 360° view and admire for a little while this landscape that seems to be planned to have all the elements at the right place, as it was the composition of a picture of which we can feel the breeze caressing our face skin, warmed by the sun, hear birds singing and smell the scent of grass and aromatic plants.

The decline of this castle began when it was ceded to Capitanei, the lords of Sondrio, and later, in 1526, it was destroyed by Grisons.

We head towards the exit: we go again through the arch, we walk the path lined with burnished red vineyards, we say goodbye one last time to the tower from here: we will see and greet it again from a distance when we’ll be in the valley, every time that we will look up toward the mountain, perched on its rock.

Useful information

In order to reach Castel Grumello you need to arrive at Montagna in Valtellina by car until Sant’Antonio’s Church, little far from the castle. From there, you can park and continue on foot. 

The soil of Castel Grumello is mainly dirt, so I suggest comfortable clothing (especially as for shoes).

Castel Grumello is accessible every day without booking. You can find all the details about it and its opening times on FAI website.