Porta Claudia - Scharnitz, Austria - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

The Porta Claudia is a former fortification at the Scharnitz Pass, where the valley of the River Isar narrows near the village of Scharnitz, on the Bavarian border near Mittenwald. The Porta Claudia – or more precisely the Scharnitz Pass – is the start of the present federal highways, the B 2 (Germany) and the B 177 (Austria).

In 1633, Tyrol was granted the right to build border fortification of Porta Claudia at the Scharnitz Pass on Werdenfels territory in order to protect themselves from the advancing Swedish Army in the Thirty Years' War. The construction of the castle guarding the valley was ordered by Claudia de' Medici, Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Tyrol, to fortify the important crossing from Bavaria to Tyrol. The castle was named after the princess. In a treaty made on 29 October 1656, Scharnitz and the region around the Porta Claudia were swapped for a strip of land around the Kienleitenkopf including the Karolingerhof and rights of way into the Hinterautal valley. In 1670, the fortress was expanded. In another treaty on 28 May 1766, Tyrol's possession of Scharnitz and the Porta Claudia was confirmed as was a strip of territory "at a musket shot's distance at all existing fortification works in the direction of Mittenwald".

Goethe described the border in 1786 in his report on his trip to Italy as "enclosed by a rampart that sealed the valley and was joined to the mountains."

Today only a wall, up to 6 metres (20 ft) high, remains of the Porta Claudia. The remains of the little sconce in the Leutasch may be seen at the old customs post in Unterleutasch-Schanz.

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