Herbstenburg Castle in Dobbiaco: Between imperial history and dark legends

In the heart of Dobbiaco, right behind the parish church, stands the imposing Herbstenburg Castle, surrounded by high crenellated walls that tell a story of military strategy, imperial power, and mysterious events.

A strategic stronghold

In the 16th century, the brothers Gaspare and Cristoforo Herbst of Herbstenburg purchased and restored part of the fortress, transforming it into the center of a larger defensive system. Underground tunnels connected the castle to the Red Tower on the northwest side of the village, while its cellars concealed prison chambers.

Between 1508 and 1511, the castle hosted none other than Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg, who used it as his headquarters during the conflict against the Republic of Venice. It was from here, in 1511, that the order for war was issued. As an act of devotion and remembrance for the sufferings of the conflict, in 1519 Maximilian commissioned the construction of the “Via Dolorosa”, today considered the oldest Way of the Cross in Tyrol.

The legend of the beggar and the chains of repentance

But Herbstenburg’s story is not only one of wars and emperors. A dark legend surrounds the figures of Cristoforo Herbst and his wife Regine Ginneberin.

During a feast—perhaps due to wine and the joy of celebration—Cristoforo had a beggar locked in the tower after he asked for shelter. The man, forgotten in the dungeon, died of starvation. Months later, when the noble remembered the event, he informed his wife, who told him she had heard moans and faint knocks, but no one could explain the sounds.

Shaken by the tragedy, the Herbst couple undertook a penitential pilgrimage to Rome. There, kneeling before the apostle’s chains in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, they vowed to wear iron chains around their necks for the rest of their lives. This act of atonement is still remembered today in the parish church of Dobbiaco, where their funerary effigies depict them in prayer, chains around their necks.

A noble residence, a restless soul

Herbstenburg Castle is a place where history and legend intertwine, where imperial power meets the fragility of the human soul. A site worth discovering not only for its architecture but for the stories that still echo within its walls.