On 13 April 1796 the French army, led by Napoleon, attacked the castle of Del Carretto in Cosseria. Located at the top of a steep slope, the castle, which had already existed since before the year one thousand, belonged to Bonifacio del Vasto from 1091 and, later, to the marchesi of Clavesana (twelfth century) and of Del Carretto. The building was then abandoned and fell into ever greater ruin over the course of the seventeenth century. The site was particularly important because from it one could keep watch over the routes that led to Piedmont from the sea, which were visible in the distance.
The area has undergone some changes over the course of time, but the ruins of the castle and the mountain profiles are perfectly recognizable in the historical documentation concerning the events of the First Italian Campaign. In particular, in Versailles there is a watercolour by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti, the architect of the Piedmont topographical service enlisted in 1803 to produce views of all of the principle battle sites of 1796, in which the point of view is that of the “‘house of Pauline” on the Bric della Santa, between the summits of the Orgino, to the left of which were the troops and the riflemen and “the houses where there were two canons”, at right. In this work the battle is just perceived from the grey clouds that rise up from the hills.
On the anniversaries of the battles, historical re–enactments are organized in the area.
Ruins of Del Carretto Castle
Locale: Castello
Cosseria (SV)