Castello dei Magoria

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Casaforte dei Magoria, also known as the Castello di Claro, stands in Claro, a former Ticinese municipality merged into Bellinzona in 2017. According to the Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, the castle was built at Scubiago by the capitanei of Locarno, who also held tithe rights in the area, and dates back to the late 13th century; more recent studies reported in the Ticinese press place it rather in the second half of the 14th century. In the mid-15th century, the Magoria family, based in Bellinzona, inherited the Claro possessions. Modest in size, the building belongs to the type of the residential tower; an archaeological report from 2019 suggests that it originally had an additional storey, by comparison with other neighbouring towers (Grono, Giornico, Chironico, Cortauro at Claro). Long left abandoned, it has belonged to the City of Bellinzona since autumn 2018. Its restoration, estimated at between CHF 2.5 and 3 million by the former municipality of Claro, is a matter of debate: whether to conserve it in its current state or to add a contemporary upper storey, with proposals for new uses (an archaeological exhibition space, a library, a gallery, a concert venue) put forward by the association Claro Viva.