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Aosta Valley

The Sarre Castle

From its position on a l nearby the town of Aos castle dominates the en to the upper Valley. Its look dates back to the f decades of the XVIII cer but the structure is built a more ancient core, pr constructed in the XII cc In 1869 it was purchasec Vittorio Emanuele II and into his hunting lodge. C significant are the trophi gallery and hall. Today i museum testifying the pi of the Savoy family in tF Valley.

The Sarriod de La Tour Castle Saint-Pierre

The castle, protected by surrounding wall, was ere the municipality of Saint-1 Until the beginning of the century it belonged to the Sarriod de La Tour family, a complex architecture. It made of a number of buili and is the outcome of ext and transformations made different times. The chape frescoes dating mid XIII c whilst the main hall is fam for of its wooden ceiling supported by 171 carved corbels.

The Roman Bridge Pont-Saint-Martin

The Roman Bridge in Pont-Saint-Martin is one of the mang civil engineering works made by the Romans to facilitate transport and maintain control over their territory. This is a 23 meter high monumental bridge built over the Lys torrent. It has a single, exceptionally long 36 meter span. Up untill mid nineteenth century it was the only way of transit to Aosta and today it is one of the most beautiful and best preserved Roman bridges.

The Roman Road Donnas

Aosta became a fundamental point of transit along the way from Ivrea to Lyon. The consular road to Gaul was used until the nineteenth century and its remains are still visible today: passages cut through rocks, uneven ground flattened out, dry-stone walls built on the overhanging mountain sides and daring bridges built over torrents. It is particularly worth while visiting the Pierre Taillee (cut stone) tract in the Avise municipality and that of Donnas where the arch over the pebble road is cut out of the rock and has a finely engraved archivolt.

Stone Bridge Aosta

The Roman bridge over the Buthier torrent, dating from the Augustan age, is a round arched bridge with a 17 meter diameter made with large slabs of hewn stone. In the course of the centuries floods little by little buried the bridge and in the XI century the torrent changed its course to nearby the Arch of Augustus, where it still flows today.

Arch of Augustus Aosta

The Arch of Augustus was built at the time of the foundation of the town in 25 B.C. to celebrate the victory of the Roman troops over the Salassians. It has a single supporting arch, it is made with blocks of pudding- stones and presents a mixture of styles. The missing attic was replaced in 1716 by a four-sided slate roof.

San Lorenzo Early Christian Church Aosta

The primitive church of the V century had a Latin cross plan and an apse at the end of each arm. It was destroyed in Carolingian times, rebuilt in the XI-XII century and modified in late Gothic times. The existing building dates back to the XVII century.

Porta Praetoria Aosta

This door, which was the east gate into the town, is the largest Roman door in existence. It is beautifully preserved and dates back to the time of the foundation of Augusta Praetoria: it is made of a double set of pudding-stone walls and has three arches.

The Roman Theatre Aosta

The imposing building probably dates back to the Augustan Age, albeit later interventions partly modified the structure. On the lower part of the monumental facade there is a set of arcades with overarching windows of various dimensions. Quite distinctive is the cavea, placed within a rectangular structure which allowed for a permanent roof to be built over the space reserved for the public.

Villa della Consolata Aosta

The ancient Roman villa has a compact rectangular plan with prevalence of residential rooms. The original late republican structure underwent a number of changes, particularly during the II century A.C.

The Roman Cryptoportico Aosta

The cryptoportico is a building partly below ground level built at the time of Augustus: it has a gallery and two naves supported by imposing arches of travertine marble. Its main function was of structural nature and it was designed to compensate the height difference of the ground and support the portico surrounding the adjacent sacred area (one can still see the foundations of the two temples on the side). It was probably a roofed passage: an extension of the portico of the Forum.

Megalithic Site in St-Martin-de-Corleans Aosta

The Megalithic site was used approximately between 3.000 and 1.900 B.C. It is a sacred site where there was ritual ploughing and the alignment of poles and other structures: menhirs, dolmen, burial ground, large ornate anthropomorphic steles and a triangular platform.

Roman aqueduct bridge in Pondei * Aymavilles

The aqueduct bridge was built in 3 B.C. It belonged to the powerful colonist Caio Avilio Caimo and was presumably built to supply his land with water. It is particularly suggestive and daring, made of a roofed passage and an overlaying aqueduct.

The Little Saint Bernard Cromlech

The word cromlech is used to describe a great circle made of stones planted in the ground, used as a place of worship and/ or of observation. The exact dating is uncertain; the site may date back to the Bronze Age, even if some assume it to be older than that. The large stone circle at the Little Saint Bernard pass, on the Italian-French border, is one of the few that have been found in Italy; it is therefore of great historic and astronomic interest. The Cromlech is now made of 46 stones placed in such a way as to vaguely resemble a circle and we cannot exclude there may have been a dolmen in the middle.

The Savoy Castle Gressoney-Saint-Jean

King Umberto I had the castle built to pay homage to Queen Margaret. The Royal Mansion in Gressoney, designed in an eclectic style, was completed in igo4. A botanic garden was created in the park of the castle in 1990.

The Bard Fortress

The first information on a fortified settlement in Bard dates back to the XI century. The Medieval castle was razed to the ground by Napoleon’s troops in 1800 after a resistance that lasted for days. The construction of the Fortress, as it stands today, was completed in 1838.

It was abandoned by the military in 1975 and now hosts the Museum of the Alps.

The Issogne Castle

The castle was built on a Roman site and acquired its present look as a residential building at the end of the fifteenth century. It is to Giorgio of Challant-Varey that we owe the interior decorations and the fine mural paintings.

In the courtyard surrounded by a portico with frescos depicting scenes of everyday life, there is the famous wrought iron pomegranate fountain.

The Verres Castle

The castle was built around 1390 by Ibleto of Challant. The structure is an imposing cube made of stone, made more attractive thanks to mullioned windows with two lights and arch shaped doors. Inside there is a monumental staircase and a few large fireplaces which are among the most beautiful in the Aosta

The Ussel Castle

The castle, which still presents its original structure, was built in 1343. In the XIX century the ownership of the estate was transferred fom the Passerin d’Entreves family to the Bich family. After the latest rehabilitation works, the castle was turned into a temporary exhibition hall.

The Fenis Castle

The castle is famous for its extraordinary architecture and particularly for the evocative power of its crenellated walls and towers. The appearance it has today is the result of many transformations along the time; the most important one was promoted by Aimone of Challant in the mid XIV century. Notable are the frescoes in the courtyard and in the chapel made in the first decades of the fifteenth century. The castle hosts the Aosta Valley Furniture Museum.