Fort Fuentes

Fort Fuentes (Italian: Forte di Fuentes) is a former military fort on the hill of Montecchio or Monteggiolo near Colico, in the province of Lecco, Lombardy, northern Italy.

It was built by the Spanish governor of Milan, Don Pedro Enríquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes, to command the Pian di Spagna and the strategic Trivio di Fuentes, the crossroads between the Valtellina, the Valchiavenna and the Alto Lario, in order to defend the northern border of the Spanish domain against the Grisons to the north. Construction was begun in 1603 or October 1609 under military architect Gabrio Brusca, and was substantially complete within three years. Ancillary fortified structures were the tower of Sorico, the Torretta del Passo, the Fortino d'Adda, the Torrino di Borgofrancone, the Torretta di Curcio and the tower of Fontanedo. Like the city of Milan, the fort of Fuentes yielded in 1706 to Prince Eugène of Savoy, ending Spanish control of the area. It is thought that the Samolaco horse derives in part from Spanish stock abandoned by the garrisons of these fortifications.

The fort was visited in 1769 by the Emperor Joseph II (r. 1765–1790), who declared it militarily useless. It was decommissioned in 1782, and the hill auctioned to a private buyer. The fortress was largely demolished in 1796 by general François Rambeaud on the orders of Napoleon and at the request of the Grisons. During the 19th century the ruins became the refuge of groups of bandits which the Austrian gendarmerie was unable to dislodge.

Tekst overgenomen uit “Fort Fuentes” op de Engelstalige Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fort Fuentes staat op plaats 3.309 van 5.793 in de bekendheidsranglijst van deze atlas en op plaats 258 van de 350 die de atlas in Italië in kaart brengt. Gebouwd in 1603, en daarmee ouder dan 35% van de gedateerde bouwwerken in de atlas — een van de 399 bouwwerken in de atlas die uit de 17e eeuw stammen. Zie hoe dat zich verhoudt in de kastelenstatistiek.

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