The castle rose on a steep crag, just above the confluence of the Felizon stream with the Boite river, north of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The first stone fortress was">
        
        

 

The fortress of Botestagno

The castle rose on a steep crag, just above the confluence of the Felizon stream with the Boite river, north of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The first stone fortress was built in the 12th century, on the site of a former Lombard outpost.
It was the seat of a military garrison and their captain both when Cortina belonged to the Patriarch of Aquileia and Venice, that is until 1511, and later when it was conquered by the Hapsburg Empire.

The Captain was at the same time governor of Ampezzo, judge in the criminal trials with power of life and death, and in charge of collecting the toll on the goods in transit on the ancient Royal Road.

In the 17th century, Hapsburg Emperors ordered the abandonment of the fortress which fell in disuse and ruin. In 1783 the Ampezzo community acquired the fortress and obtained permission to demolish the ruins. It was completely demolished by the Italian army during the first World War.