Forte Di Fuentes
Ruined seventeenth-century hilltop fortress overlooking a lake and Alpine crossroads, now a picnic and hiking spot.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Forte di Fuentes above Lake Como opens with a simple question: what do soldiers do at a fort that never fights a war? Spanish governor Pedro Enriquez de Acevedo ordered it built starting in 1603 to guard the valley crossroads below and keep the Alpine Grisons league from pushing south toward Milan, an invasion that essentially never came. You'll hear about the decades of drills, card games and empty watches that filled the garrison's days, and about the Habsburg emperor who toured the fort in 1769 and delivered a blunt verdict on its usefulness. Stand on the ramparts and look out over the same crossroads three valleys still meet at.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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