Castello di Andraz
Castle · Dolomites
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Andraz Castle sits atop a giant boulder that broke from the Settsass massif, built around the year 1000 to guard the iron road from the Mount Pore mines. It later belonged to the Bishopric of Brixen; the philosopher-cardinal Nicholas of Cusa lived here for several years in the 15th century when his life was in danger. Abandoned and damaged in the First World War, it was restored after 1986.
Archaeological digs inside the walls uncovered the castle's original iron-smelting furnace, evidence of the trade that carried ore from the Monte Pore mines down the Strada de la Vena to markets across Europe, prized for the swords it produced. During the First World War, the front line on nearby Col di Lana, one of the bloodiest of the entire conflict, ran through the fortifications above the castle, and Austrian shelling from those positions left it in ruins. Restoration carried out between 1986 and 2002 rebuilt the missing sections in the same stone and technique as the original walls, but faced with thin sheets of lead so a visitor can still tell the two apart. The castle reopened as a museum in 2012, its exhibits built around the mining and wartime history uncovered on site.
Practical
The museum keeps a seasonal schedule: open June to September, closed Mondays.
castleiron roadworld war imuseum