LOCARNO VISCONTI CASTLE
Treaties and Renaissance in Ticino
In the current tides of a troubled world, much controversy is made of
the failures of appeasement, often notably symbolized by the movie reel
image of Neville Chamberlain returning to London from Berlin waving the “Treaty
of Munich” signed with Hitler in 1938 announcing “Peace In
Our Time”. But the British Prime Minister’s ultimately failed
attempt to stop the German Fuhrer’s unquenchable thrist for war
was only the last in a series of diplomatic steps which had envisioned
World War I as the world’s last war. Neville Chamberlain might
have had his uncle’s Nobel Peace Prize in mind when he went to
face the Nazi Leader.
In
October of 1925, diplomats from the European powers met in a castle in
Locarno, in Italian speaking Switzerland on the northern shore of
Lago Maggiore to try to make adjustments to the Treaty of Versailles
which ended the war to end all wars in 1918. The Germans felt onerously
restricted with the harsh terms of Versailles, particularly with the
allied occupation of the Rhineland. Sir Austen Chamberlain, most notably
British Chancellor of the Exchequer before the First World War and Foreign
Minister negotiated the Treaties of Locarno with French minister Aristide
Briand and the German Weimar Republic’s Gustav Stresemann. 
There
were 7 treaties in all, but the first treaty, the Rhineland Pact, was
signed in a ceremony in an upper patio chamber of the medieval Visconti
Castle of Locarno (Castello Visconteo). The treaties which promised that
France and Britain would come to the aid of Poland in the event of German
aggression ultimately led to World War II, after Hitler and the Nazis
took power from the Weimar regime and ignored the Locarno agreements,
except where they might serve as justification for encroachments on Poland
and Czechoslovakia and remilitarizing the Rhineland. The Locarno Treaties
might have meant peace in Europe, if Hitler didn't have other plans in
mind.
Only
parts of the castle in Locarno remain from its early days as a medieval
fortress protecting the Alps passes. The castle gets its name from the
Milanese Counts of Visconti who captured it in the 1340 and remained
in their control until 1506. The standing stucture of the castle with
its distinctive round turret encircled with murder holes are mostly from
the 15th and 16th Centuries with battlements the distinctive shape of
Northern Italian castles, though modern Locarno is in Switzerland. The
foundations of the earlier 12th Century castle can now been seen in in
front of the castle toward the street and the foundations of an even
earlier Roman fort unearthed during the construction of a road way, seen
the parking lot underneath the elevated Piazza Castrello traffic circle
at the edge of Locarno, where the highway heads southwest toward lakeside
resort town of Ascona (see Ascona
Maggiore).
The room in Castle Locarno where the Locarno Treaty signing ceremony
took place, the Sala Patto di Locarno, remains in castle, with photos,
editorial cartoons of the time, and artifacts from the meetings which
took several weeks. Items on dispaly from the ceremonial signing include
the duel inkwell from which the pens were dipped as well as the chairs.
The table is used elsewhere, as the castle is still sometimes used for
meetings. The castle also houses Locarno’s Civic and Archaeological
Museum with an impressive collection of Roman pottery and glass as well
as a separate gallery of art from local Ticino artists. The Italian Renaissance
influence of this castle in Switzerland can be seen in the arches of
the courtyard, partially remaining frescoes and close up on the stone
post reliefs. Look for the curious stone ball bearing in the castle's
medieval well crank. There has been recent speculation that Leonardo
Da Vinci may have had a hand in the castle’s design. The Locarno
Visconti Castle is an easy walk from the town’s main plaza the
Piazza Grande, where the famous Locarno Film Festival is held. © Bargain
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