The History
The Visconti period
The earliest traces of fortification seem to date back to the early 14th century: at the behest of the Visconti family, the serpentine layout of the Anfo fortress was built with straight stretches of curtain wall, from Lake Idro to the mountains, ending in a long-walled corridor.
Political significance was achieved when the Visconti, an ancient Lombard family, first ordered the Podestà of Brescia.
The period of the Serenissima
Republic of Venice
Later, during the Venetian rule that began in the mid-1500s, La Serenissima imposed a heavy customs policy that burdened the movement of goods and, with the aim of controlling trade, the Brescian military engineer Gianfrancesco Martinengo was commissioned with a thorough modernisation of the Visconti structure, defined by the Venetian senate as a ‘gateway to the state’ precisely because of its location along the border.
The fortification built stretched along the entire mountainside and fulfilled two tasks: the lower complex near the lake controlled the border and the road, while the upper part had a defensive function over the entire valley.
In order to pass from the first block downstream to the second block upstream, it was necessary to overcome a certain difference in height with overhanging rocks, passing through a series of ladders that served as connecting paths. This route defined, given its origin, as ‘Mura Venete’ (Venetian Walls) developed and still develops today along a double curtain wall line, winding between the rocks. The buildings of the Venetian period, however, deteriorated almost completely during the 17th and 18th centuries, and today the general layout of the Venetian fortification and the connecting stairway systems that climb the mountainside, the true distinguishing feature of this part of the fortress, remain visible.
The period of the French Empire
In year VII (14 January 1798) of the French revolutionary calendar, the project of the Anfo Fortress was relaunched at the behest of Napoleon Bonaparte.
He wanted a “fortification without delay and without regard to the season” in order to “have in the fortress of Anfo and not in Brescia a square that could be left to itself and that could resist an artillery attack”, in fact it had to be able to resist a powerful enemy column with a garrison of four hundred men, for twenty-five days at least.
Work on the summit of the Parlessi mountain, at the foot of Mount Censo, began in the summer of 1802 to the design of engineer François-Joseph-Didier Liédot; the summit was flattened, excavated, and modified to make way for the Napoleonic fortress that remained unfinished.
At the apex of this fortified pyramid stands the Observatory, rock coloured, with a plumb line that enemy cannons cannot reach and that could be mistaken for a peak. It acts as a sentinel to the valley and is, at the same time, a fearsome turret where cannons can be placed. Its two moats, controlled by casemates with direct fire against the rear, make it virtually impregnable.
It is only accessible from a real small underground fortress that climbs up the mountainside, without giving any apparent external signal, which only a careful eye can notice. Of the impregnable Napoleonic fortress, however, only the upper part was completed, due to the difficulty of funding and the constant demand for annual maintenance. At the same time, the layout of the old Venetian fortification was also modified. The Rocca d’Anfo, however, was never used for the purpose for which it had been strongly desired by Napoleon.
From Risorgimento to the Unification of Italy
Following the fall of Napoleon and the consequent Congress of Vienna in 1815, the new political situation created by the Austrian rule over the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia led to a condition where the strategic importance that the Rocca d’Anfo had enjoyed for many centuries was surpassed. It became the highest outpost of Habsburg power in the Valle Sabbia and the point of support to secure the route to the Tyrol in the event of a serious crisis or immediate retreat.
With the Unification of Italy (1861) and the development that followed towards the end of the 19th century, Giuseppe Zanardelli gave a boost to the city of Brescia and its territory. It was, in fact, during this period that the Rocca d’Anfo renewed its defensive equipment with the extension and renovation of the batteries, evidently necessary to control the border with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In the last three decades of the 19th century, the Palazzo del Comando, now called Caserma Zanardelli, was built and the Belvedere Battery, the Rolando Battery, the Tirolo Battery and the Statuto Battery were constructed, occupying the roadway, and acting as a barrage. The latter, together with the Rocca Vecchia Battery, made it possible to cover the entire lower area of Lake Idro from firing, as far as the opposite shore, and the road in front of the fortress. Moreover, to connect the batteries, a low wall with loopholes was built on the lake shore, which allowed the defensive area of the Rocca to be completely closed off.
The 20th century
In the First World War, the importance of the most advanced front to the north did not give Rocca d’Anfo a prominent role and it did not see its artillery potential exploited. However, given its geographical position, it was the exact barycentre of all the fortified defence works in the Valle Sabbia and became the logistical centre of the entire defensive line until the end of the war in 1918. With the definitive territorial change, the fortress irrevocably lost all strategic possibilities with the consequent cancellation of its functions. From that time on, however, it was used as barracks, a logistical support point and a weapons and ammunition depot.
As early as September 1943, it remained without a military garrison. During the retreat at the end of April 1945, German troops attempted to demolish the Statuto Battery with explosive charges, but this operation was only partially successful. In the post-war period, everything that could be used was removed by the ‘salvagers’. The Rocca d’Anfo was used by the Italian Army until 1975 and then decommissioned. It remained under military secrecy until 1992, the year in which the entire area was demilitarised and transferred from the Military State Property to the State Property. Progressive degradation, neglect, landslides, and vandalism have put what time had spared to the test.