The Bellinzona site con­sists of a group of for­ti­fi­ca­tions grouped around the cas­tle of Castel­grande, which stands on a rocky peak look­ing out over the entire Tici­no val­ley. Run­ning from the cas­tle, a series of for­ti­fied walls pro­tect the ancient town and block the pas­sage through the val­ley. A sec­ond cas­tle (Mon­te­bel­lo) forms an inte­gral part of the for­ti­fi­ca­tions, while a third but sep­a­rate cas­tle (Sas­so Cor­baro) was built on an iso­lat­ed rocky promon­to­ry south-east of the oth­er for­ti­fi­ca­tions.