| TWO CASTLES: PIEVE AND BOTESTAGNO The first fortified place in Cadore we know of sits on a hilltop in the middle of the region at the fork of the Boite and Piave valleys; on the site where the "pieve" ( the church of the people, from Latin "plebs, plebis") would later be erected. For its favourable location, the "pieve" soon became the capital. The castle erected on the highest spot, where a sacred place had been existing since Roman times, served as defence and control. High up there, messages (with smoke or fire) were sent and received. In case of danger the population could find refuge; the last time it occurred during the war against Maximilian. The castle, as it appears in ancient prints, was quite vast, built on two floors around a central courtyard, the entrance was through the north-west side. The other three sides were on the brink of the ravine overlooking the bottom of the valley. It had several rooms to accommodate the soldiers and the captain, often with his family. On the ground floor there were prisons and cellars to the north, while on the sunny side, warehouses and the armoury. On the side overlooking Pieve, there was also a chapel equipped with all the ornaments for religious services. A particularly beautiful statue, attributed to Mino da Pisa, and two altar-pieces by artists of the school of Vecellio – believed to have been part of the chapel ornaments – are today kept in the parish church. The castle was the seat of the military power of the region One of the most famous people who sojourned here was patriarch Bertrando, when he came from Aquileia to receive the homage of the Cadorini in 1347. A hundred years later, Venice representative established his residence in the castle with the title of "captain". During the war of Chambray, it was in the castle of Pieve that the defence of Cadore was concentrated. After the poor figure cut by captain Gissi and after Venice re-occupied it, the castle was able to resist Maximilian's siege for over two years (1511), that is till the end of the war. The other castle defending the region is the one of Botestagno, in the north of the Ampezzo valley, where the road leaves the Boite river to ascend the Felizon stream up to the Cimabanche pass. Archaeological evidence suggests that the fortress of Pieve existed since Roman times, while little or nothing is known about the origins of Botestagno. Giuseppe Richebuono, in his Storia di Cortina (Mursia, 1974), suggests that the earliest fortified place may have already existed in the period of Barbarian invasions. Possibly the first invasions which marked the end of the Roman empire or the following ones by the Slavonians who marched up the Drava valley destroying Aguntum or even later with the spreading of the Bajuvari? Who knows? Botestagno, in German "Beutelstein" meaning rock over the Boite, is a cliff inaccessible from the three sides where it falls abruptly into the torrents that meet at its foot. Though less steep it dominates the north slope as well, where it was protected by a mighty wall. The road from Venice to Innsbruck and Germany ran below its culverins. The road, almost a mule-track, about 2 m wide, perilously climbed up the slope overlooking the Boite , winding close to the abyss along a ledge carved into the rock. Further up it ran along the outer walls. Tolls were to be paid in the castle. As a matter of fact, it is believed that Botestagno had been a "Customs post" where to squeeze money out of merchants and pilgrims, long before being or becoming a defensive site. The castle had a cistern, cells for the prisoners in the basement, cellars, three large rooms to accommodate the soldiers and the captain, and a small chapel where, as chronicles read, the captain's children were christened. Nearby the fortress there were a small farm with meadows and pasturelands, a mill for the cereals and forests for firewood. As already stated, Botestagno enters into the history of Cortina with the purchase of the surrounding land by count da Camino, feudal lord of the patriarch. Over nearly three centuries it acts as bulwark against invasions from the north. The people of Ampezzo rush to defend it on several occasions. When Venice acquires the possession of the castle, it reinforces it so as to make it unconquerable because, as the doge writes, the site was "magni momenti", that is of the utmost importance to the defence of the republic. During the war of Chambray, the castle resisted a nearly three years' siege and Maximilian could conquer it only by treason. Since then (1511) a Tyrolean captain settled in the castle and the Ampezzo community, detached from Cadore, became part of the Austrian empire. Today, the stylised image of Botestagno appears on Cortina's coat of arms. |
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