Castel Taufers (Castel Tures) in Valle di Tures ed Aurina - Burg Taufers

Campo Tures (Bz) - The Tures Castle (in German Burg Taufers) is a medieval castle that stands, in the Val di Tures, a perpendicular of the Val Pusteria.
The castle stands on a promontory that forms a natural lock, called Klapf, who geographically starts the Aurina valley, while the Drittelsand locality, located in the north of the castle, still belongs to the municipality of Campo Tures.
Castel Tures is one of the most beautiful and larger castles in the whole Tyrolean area and dominates Campo Tures in the Val di Tures and Aurina, in a dominant position flanked by the imposing panorama of the Dolomite peaks. Already the barons of Taufers were owners of the castle who were nominated for the first time around 1136.
However, when in 1340 the Tures family died out the castle passed into the hands of several owners and over time began to fall in abandonment. At the beginning of the 20th century Ludwig Lobmayr restored the castle. In 1945, however, Hieronymus Gassner, general prosecutor of the Order of the Austrian Benedictines in Rome, restored Castel Tures again. For this reason, the castle is made up of elements of different architectural styles: a Romanesque part, originally from the period of the barons of Taufers and a Gothic section dating back to the time of the Bishops of Bressanone. Mastio and Dongione, the habitable tower with double arched windows and the chapel of the Romanesque castle instead date back to the first period of construction in the 13th century. Complicated doors, the drawbridges and also the barn were added in 1500. In 1977 the Association of the Castles of South Tyrol entered into possession of the imposing castle.