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Visiting the Baradello Castle is an absolutely recommended experience. The view of Lake Como is really stunning.
The best preserved building of the whole compound is the square Romanesque tower. The fundaments of the lower part of the castle are based on the rock, and it was crowned by Guelph Battlements, while the upper part, which was built later, had Ghibelline battlements.
The total height of the tower was 28 m. Nowadays, the battlements are the only missing part of the ancient imposing building of Baradello castle.
The first order of Walls that surrounds the tower are of Byzantine time, which are also the most ancient structure, dates to the 6th-7th century . In 604 a.C. the historian George from Cyprus writes about castron Baractelia together with castron Leuci (Lecco), the castron Marturion (Castelmarte) and Isola Comacina; all of them were fortifications belonging to a complicate border defensive system called Limes Byzantine.
The surrounding walls are of trapezoid shape with a gate in the North-west side that could be bolted. Along the perimeter of the walls, which had later been upraised and crowned with Ghibelline battlements, had superposed orders of seven slits. The antiques Byzantine walls are encircled by a Medieval boundary wall (Guelphs and Ghibellines time) which was built at the same time of the upraising of the inner walls of the tower, to which the entrance is through a fascinating pointed arch door.
