Tremona in decline
The war between Como and Milan
Between 1118 and 1127 the cities of Como and Milan were at war. Tremona, along with other locations in the Sottoceneri region, probably came under attack: hundreds of arrowheads have been found and this, combined with the lack of any coins that can be dated to between the end of the eleventh century and the twelfth century, suggests that there was a siege or a retreat or that the settlement was destroyed. But Tremona rose once again. Just a few decades later, in the second half of the twelfth century, the castrum had been rebuilt and repopulated. A new city wall was built closer in than the original; the entrance to the village was moved to the central part of the western area, and new buildings were constructed.
After the Peace of Constance
The Peace of Constance brought a period of relative peace and economic development to Milan and Como, from which Tremona was also able to benefit, increasing trade with surrounding towns. Other finds date back to this period: finely worked objects (fibulae, buckles and ornamental bronze plaques) and over a thousand silver coins minted in various cities of Lombardy. But this era was not to last. In the 13th century a new period of instability caused by the struggles between the Visconti and the Torriani families for control of the region and its alpine passes once again brought war to Ticino.
The castrum abandoned
In 1242 the Visconti besieged and took control of Mendrisio and Bellinzona. The ancient castrum of Castelseprio, which had taken in Torriani fugitives defeated at Desio by their rivals in January 1277, was razed to the ground, with the sole exception of its churches. The Seprio region passed into the control of Milan. The war did not spare the castrum of Tremona which, as the archaeological findings show, was attacked and burned. The lower part was completely abandoned, while the upper part was reoccupied, before being definitively abandoned at the beginning of the 15th century, to become overgrown and forgotten.