Lierna Castle, Lierna, Italy - SpottingHistory.com

Lierna Castle is built on a peninsula that protrudes into the lake Como and consists of a group of connected buildings, rather than a single building. The main portion of the current buildings was constructed in the 10th century in Romanesque style upon former Roman ruins. The castle includes the 11th-century church of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Chiesa dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro), associated with the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.

The last military use of the castle was in the mid-16th century by Gian Giacomo Medici, known as 'Medeghino' (the 'small Medici'), who was primarily a mercenary.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Turista non per caso (2 years ago)
Small fraction of Lierna in the province of Lecco. Beautiful church with the facade painted with the images of saints Maurizio and Lazzaro. To be seen

Valeria Mauri (2 years ago)
Very suggestive

SANDRA PURICELLI (2 years ago)
It is not a castle, but the name of this tiny village, located in an enchanting place on the splendid Lake Como branch of Lecco. In visiting it you experience the atmosphere of the distant past. To visit.

Maria Serrano (3 years ago)
It is not a real castle but it is a nice area to visit.

Anselmo Sala (3 years ago)
Bellissimo Borgo su una piccola penisola del lago di lecco, il tempo sembra che si sia fermato qui.

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The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

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Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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