Karneid Castle (Italian: Cornedo all'Isarco) is a castle in northern Italy situated in the comune (municipality) of Karneid in the province of South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 4 km east of the city of Bolzano (Bozen). Historical background A 20th century analysis of the castle by the historian Martin Bitschnau suggests it was constructed between the late 12th and early 13th centuries CE by vassals of the Prince-Bishopric of Brixen, an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire. The fortress stands perched dramatically on an inaccessible cliff face above the confluence of the Eggental and the Eisack rivers, on the historically resonant ancient border between the kingdoms of the Lombards and the Bavarii. The name 'Karneid' derives from the Latin "cornus" meaning “horn”. The legend of the ghost riders of Karneid Many years ago a dreadful plague raged in the Tyrol. From his castle high on the cliffs, the lord of Karneid surveyed the devastation in the valleys below. Fearing for the safety of his wife, his children and his followers, he made a solemn vow that if God spared the castle from disease he and his followers would perform a pilgrimage to the church of Maria Weissenstein to give thanks to the Virgin Mary. In the weeks that followed the plague gradually retreated and all those residing in Karneid escaped unharmed. There was much celebration and the pilgrimage was soon forgotten as people returned gratefully to their everyday routines. But the terror of the Black Death soon returned to the valley and this time struck the castle, carrying off its inhabitants one by one. The knight's entire clan, his wife and his children perished. He himself was the last to pass, a year to the day after he had made his vow. Every year on the night of the anniversary of their Lord's death, when the grapes have ripened on the vines in the valley, the cursed inhabitants of Karneid rise from their graves to fulfill their promise and perform their pilgrimage to Weissenstein. Many a pious pilgrim seeking shelter late at night has seen the Knight and his family dressed in black, slowly riding their skeletal horses up the mountain, doomed to fulfill their vow for all eternity.

Castel Cornedo (Schloss Karneid in tedesco) si erge poco ad est di Bolzano, su uno sperone roccioso all'ingresso della Val d'Ega, nel comune di Cornedo all'Isarco. Fu eretto alla fine del XIII secolo. Cenni storici L'origine è piuttosto incerta, ma pare possa essere attribuita ai Grafenstein, intorno al 1200. Di circa un secolo dopo è il mastio. Notizie più certe risalgono al 1378, quando i conti di Tirolo lo affidarono a Hans e Wilhelm von Liechtenstein. Hans fu uno degli avversari di Federico dalle Tasche Vuote, il quale assediò e conquistò il castello. I proprietari furono esiliati, ma furono liberati per l'intercessione di Oswald von Wolkenstein. I Liechtenstein dopo qualche tempo tornarono al castello, e vi rimasero fino all'estinzione della famiglia (1760). Allora divenne proprietà del comune di Bolzano, fino a che lo incamerarono i bavaresi (1808) durante il periodo di dominazione sul Tirolo. Il castello passo prima ai signori von Goldegg, poi a Ferdinand von Miller ai cui eredi, la famiglia von Malaisé, appartiene ancora. Non era visitabile fino alla primavera del 2006, quando i proprietari l'hanno parzialmente aperto al pubblico. Nella cappella romanica sono conservati vari affreschi trecenteschi, il più noto dei quali è un "Trionfo della Morte".

No GRATUITO GRATUITO GRATUITO judith.ganthaler@gemeinde.karneid.bz.it Ad ovest si può vedere il Castel Campegno

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