Castel Grande

Restoration by Aurelio Galfetti, 1980-86

Castel Grande is located in the centre of Bellinzona on a promontory of granite rock. Together with its fortress, it forms a single complex both architecturally and geographically. For Aurelio Galfetti, the late Swiss architect behind the restoration project, restoration meant not only recovering and preserving but also adapting and transforming. His aim was to give a new meaning to the promontory that for centuries had represented exclusion from community life. His project was not only limited to the architecture of the castle: it was also designed to be connected to the landscape and the city below. Galfetti has thus given new meaning to this area, using two gestures that have been considered fundamental to man since his origins: excavating and delimiting space.