The rest is coming back into the light thanks to excavations by the University of Bergamo, started in 2022. The sources don’t agree on the age of the tower, so we simply call it medieval. Walking among the pines feels like an easy stroll in a woodland, but underneath there are five hundred years of history waiting to be read.
Where is Teglio’s castle and what’s left of it?
On Dos del Castel, the hill that overlooks the Adda Valley, just south of Teglio. In the Middle Ages, it hosted a castle that formed part of a castellanza under the authority of the archbishops of Milan.
Two buildings still stand from it: the Torre de li Beli Miri, a symbol of Teglio, and the church of Santo Stefano. They’re the only medieval structures still standing, meaning the walls rise directly up from the ground.
When was the Torre de li Beli Miri built?
The exact date isn’t known. The regional entry places it in the 11th century, while a list of castles puts it in the 13th.
Between 1900 and 1906, the tower was restored, and its appearance today also comes from those interventions.
Where does the name Torre de li Beli Miri come from?
The name is explained by the panoramic view you get from the tower over the valley below.
In 2020, “castle tower” was suggested as a wording, but it remained just a proposal and was never made official.
What happened to the castle?
The castle was already in ruins by 1534. On 4 August of that year, Archbishop Ippolito d’Este handed it over to Azzo II Besta and to Andrea Guicciardi, and the deed describes it as being in ruin.
In the first decades of the 1500s, Valtellina came under the Grisons, who dismantled several castles in the area. The dates range from 1512 to 1526, and for Teglio, the precise one still needs to be confirmed.
What did the archaeologists find on Dos del Castel?
About 25,000 finds, according to an approximate estimate, and for the most part they’re fragments rather than whole objects. The University of Bergamo’s excavations began in 2021 with preliminary investigations, and from 2022 the digging really got under way, under the direction of Federico Zoni.
In 2024 it was Santo Stefano’s turn, and in 2025 the funerary area. The fifth campaign took place from 24 August to 12 September 2026.
Among the finds there are arrowheads and crossbow bolts, mail armour and armour pieces, keys, knives, ceramics, soapstone, coins from Milan, Pavia, Florence and Merano, remains of veal, a thirteenth-century-looking money-box and five or six dice, as reported by the excavation director. Next to Santo Stefano, some tombs were also found, including a disc fibula decorated with a lamb and a cross.
What do the finds say about life in the castle?
The finds mainly tell the story of everyday life: weapons and armour, keys, knives, ceramics, food remains, coins that arrived from faraway cities. The money-box and the dice are the items that point to leisure time.
Where can you see what the castle was like?
In the church of San Lorenzo in Teglio. There’s a 1528 fresco by Fermo Stella showing the hill with the castle and the tower.
It’s the closest image to how the castle must have looked just before it ended up in ruins.
Ristorante Al Castello: Valtellina cuisine in Teglio
Once the visit was over, we sat down to eat at Al Castello in Teglio, a stone’s throw from Palazzo Besta.
Ristorante Al Castello is a partner in this episode. Claudio and Patrizia opened it in 1992, and today the business is still run by the family: the team also includes their daughter Silvia, along with a few collaborators. There are 80 seats, split between the indoor dining room and the veranda.
The cooking is typically Valtellina-style, and in the evenings they add pizza baked in a wood-fired oven.
In Teglio they talk about pizzoccheri, and here they make them by hand every day, following the recipe of the Accademia del Pizzocchero di Teglio, of which the restaurant is a founding partner.
All the pasta on the menu and the desserts are homemade too. In the reel we try sciatt, pizzoccheri, tagliatelle with wild game ragù, and a fantastic porcini mushroom tagliata, with the veranda looking out over Palazzo Besta.
📍 Via Carlo Besta 10, 23036 Teglio (SO)
📞 0342 780305
🌐 [restaurant website, with link]
Facebook: [page name, without link]
