Named after the Visconti clan that long ruled Milan, this fortified 15th-century castle’s nucleus was raised around the 10th century. It now houses a museum with Roman and Bronze Age exhibits and also hosts a small display (in Italian) on the 1925 Locarno Treaty. Locarno is believed to have been a glass-manufacturing town in Roman times, which accounts for the many glass artefacts in the museum.
The castle changed hands various times and was occupied by the Milanese under Luchino Visconti in 1342. Taken by French forces in 1499, the castle and town of Locarno eventually fell to the Swiss confederation in 1516.