A dreamy holiday to visit Valdôtain castles, between history and fantasy, where the spell truly exists…
To enter in the Aosta Valley means soon discovering a severe and overhanging landscape which has always made the control of the transit and the defence of the borders easier, thanks to an uninterrupted succession of castles, strongholds, towers and fortresses.
Turreted and battlemented profiles hang on rocks and control, since the most ancient times, the rare and compulsory ways of communications.
The numerous manors of the Aosta Valley, one different from the other, offer their visitors strong and deep emotions thanks to a harmonious alchemy between history, arts, traditions and legends. To enter these ancient curtains and to pass over drawbridges, nailed doors and frightening trapdoors, means discovering ancient epochs whose charm is intense and pervasive, thanks to knights, princesses, dragons, ghosts, great benefactors and astute strategists, weddings, alliances and obscure conspiracies.
From the ‘magic’ pentagonal court of the iconic Fénis castle, to the emblematic Fountain of the Pomegranate and the cultivated atmospheres of the Issogne castle; from the impressive, stone staircase of the Verrès castle and its rampant arches to the triumph of the medieval imagery of the Sarriod de la Tour castle, with its strange creatures, grotesque beings and fantastic animals. From the unusual and rare hunting decorations of the severe Sarre Royal castle to the eclecticism and neogothic suggestions of the Castel Savoia in Gressoney-Saint-Jean. And last but not least, the Fortress of Bard, an imposing fort dating back to the XIX century which is a true reference point when speaking about the Italian history.
But how to visit them all?
Our suggestion is to stay in the Central valley, between Pont-Saint-Martin and Nus, in one of the numerous towns that might have an uncommon name, but that will surely bewitch you and guarantee you a pleasant stay.
