Sarriod de la Tour Castle is a castle in the town of Saint-Pierre by the Dora Baltea River, in Northwestern Italy's Aosta Valley. The original castle was typical of the style built between the 10th and 12th centuries, and was greatly expanded by Jean Sarriod in 1420 and his son, Antoine, in 1478. The north wing's ground floor features a wooden-ceilinged "Hall of Heads", named for its decorative motifs.
History
The Sarriod de la Tour Castle was the family residence of the Sarriod family since its founding. The Sarriods were politically linked to the powerful Bard family in the County of Savoy. The oldest part of the castle included a chapel and square tower, or donjon, surrounded by the castle walls, typical of the Aosta Valley 10th- to 12th-century castles. In 1420 Jean Sarriod expanded upon the "turris Sariodorum", as the donjon was known. The "Hall of Heads", built in 1430, features 171 corbels of grotesques of mythological monsters and animals bearing coats of arms. In 1478 Jean's son, Antoine Sarriod de la Tour, refurbished the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist, by having painted the external frescoes of the Crucifix and Saint Christopher and caused to be built the small bell tower. The castle wall's circular and semi-circular towers were added sometime in the late 15th century, when a new entrance was created on the eastern side. In the 16th century a west-facing wing was added, then, in the 17th century, a north tower. The Sarriod family inhabited the castle until 1923. In that year the castle went to the Genoese Bensa family. Since 1970, it has been property of the autonomous Region Aosta Valley.

The castle today
There are about 150 medieval castles, tours and fortified houses in the Aosta Valley. The castle is visible from the National Road No. 26 which runs from Ivrea to the Little St Bernard Pass. Sarriod de la Tour is open to visitors year round.

Sarriod de la Tour Castle

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Located on a rocky crag in Tache, the unmistakeably fairy-tale Saint Pierre Castle is certainly unique. Its famous four side towers (added in the 19th century) give it an almost Disney-like appearance. It is one of the most ancient manors in the region. The early structure probably dates back to the 12th century, in that the famous Charter of Liberties (Carta delle Franchigie) of 1191 contains the names of the brothers “de castro Sancti Petri”, joint owners of part of the castle. Among its owners, worth mentioning is the name of Pietro Filiberto Roncas, who extended the castle and held numerous receptions inside it.

After this, in the 17th century, the castle underwent a number of modifications, and above all, changed owners several times until the present day, and is now the property of the Municipality of Saint Pierre, and has been used as the headquarters of the Regional Natural Science Museum.

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Saint-Pierre Castle

Châtel-Argent was an Italian medieval castle, in the Alpine town of Villeneuve, but today it is a ruin. Châtel-Argent, as with many other castles in the region, overlooks the Dora Baltea (French: Doire baltée) River which runs through the Aosta Valley.
History
Settlements have existed on this site since prehistoric times, and through the Roman Era. There is a chapel dedicated to Saint Columba of Sens which was built sometime between 1050 and 1070. The castle first appears in a document in 1176 as "Castrum Argenteum". The castle was improved around 1275 under the direction of Count Peter II's architect James St. George (French: Maître Jacques de Saint-Georges) and castle grew to the configuration we see today. This castle had always been owned by the counts and the dukes of Savoy.

Description
The ruins can be accessed from Villeneuve by walking a staircase carved into the rock of the valley wall. The castle is located in the town of Villeneuve in the Aosta Valley region, at about 10 km west of the city of Aosta. The most prominent feature left in the ruins is its watchtower keep measuring just under 10 meters in diameter which overlooks the town below. The ruins themselves cover about 6,300 square meters. When the castle was whole, it was estimated to be able to hold 700 people in times of danger.

Châtel-Argent

Aymavilles Castle stands in the centre of the village on a moraine.
The buildings four characteristic cylindrical towers were added to the existing central body by Aimone of Challant halfway through the 14th century. In around 1730, Baron Giuseppe Felice of Challant built the arcades between the towers and eliminated many defence features, giving the interior a Baroque appearance.

When the Challant family line came to an end, the castle had several owners until 1970, when it was purchased by the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley; it actually undergoes restoration works in order to be opened to the public.

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Aymavilles Castle

The castle stands on a promontory in Lalex, which overlooks the Aosta flatland above the national road for Mont Blanc, immediately after the junction for Cogne.
Built in 1710 on the ruins of a fortress mentioned as early as 1242, having passed through various hands, the property was purchased by the King of Italy Victor Emanuel II, who renovated it and used it during hunting expeditions in Val d’Aosta.
The royal castle of Sarre, after becoming the private property of the King, was used as his headquarters for expeditions in the valleys of Cogne, Rhêmes and Valsavarenche.
Several modifications were made to the residence, in order to welcome the first king of Italy, including raising of the tower and construction of new stables. Inside, the rooms were completely reconstructed and modernised. The curator of the Royal Palace in Milan was charged with furnishing the residence, for which he transferred furniture from other royal residences.
Victor Emmanuel’s successor, Umberto I (1844-1900) also destined the alpine castle for hunting activities.
In the final years of his reign, Umberto I took a particular interest in the Sarre residence and commissioned the renovation of its interior. At that time, works included important decorations in monumental rooms, garnished with ibex and chamois trophies.
Queen Maria José also spent her holidays in the castle, even in the years following the monarchy.
In 1989 the Val d´Aosta regional authority purchased the estate to restore it. The castle has a longitudinal body with a square tower in the centre, and is a museum of the presence of the Savoy in Valle d’Aosta.

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Sarre Royal Castle

Il castello di Introd (in francese, Château d'Introd) è uno dei castelli della Valle d'Aosta, e sorge a Introd, in località Plan d'Introd.
Il castello di Introd fa risalire le proprie origini al XII secolo quando venne costruito con una struttura piuttosto semplice, costituita da un mastio quadrato circondato da una cinta muraria non eccessivamente spessa. Viene nominato nei documenti della castellania del Châtel-Argent nel 1244. Per esigenze di migliorare la struttura, Pierre Sarriod nel 1260 lo fece ampliare facendolo divenire una vera fortezza. Ulteriori modifiche nel XV secolo portarono il castello a una forma più arrotondata.
Il castello subì due traumi in tempi moderni che costrinsero a nuovi restauri: un incendio nella seconda metà dell'Ottocento e uno all'inizio del Novecento. In particolare in quest'ultimo caso i lavori vennero diretti nel 1910 dall'architetto Jean Chevalley per commissione del proprietario, il cavalier Gonella, portando il castello alla forma attuale.

Oggi il castello, di proprietà dei conti Caracciolo di Brienza, nella sua parte aperta al pubblico è gestita dalla Fondation Grand-Paradis, grazie alla concessione in comodato data dai conti al comune di Introd.

A luglio 2012 la torre del castello è stata riaperta al pubblico dopo un intervento del restauro che ha coinvolto anche altre parti del complesso.

Il salone interno è decorato con un affresco che corre nel salone lungo le pareti: vicino al soffitto sono incorniciate tante singole scene in ciascuna delle quali è raffigurato un albero diverso. Al di sotto si trova una tappezzeria a trompe-l'œil.

Castello di Introd 

Castello Tramontano is a 16th century fortification in Matera.

History
The castle is situated on a hill, called the lapel hill, above the historical centre of Matera.

In Aragonese style, the castle, with a central male and two lower side towers, one and the other round, scalloped and equipped with loops, was built from 1501 by Giovanni Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera. The new king of Naples, Ferdinand II, had promised the Materrani not to give the city to any more feudal lords, after that this had already freed itself several times from the feudal yoke paying various ransoms in order to remain free city to autonomous regiment, that is directly dependent on the Crown. Instead the Count sets, which boasted claims against the royal treasury, asked and obtained the Matera County in 1496.

The Count soon became enfeebled to the materani because with the passage of time he was replenished with debts, in order to cope with which he taxed the population with heavy taxes. Thus began the construction of the castle, which was situated on a hill dominating the city, outside the city walls, with the purpose of "feudal" control of the surrounding lands rather than defense of the city itself.

It seems that then the construction should have included other defensive towers, one of which was found under the central Piazza Vittorio Veneto in Matera together with other underground environments. For the construction of the castle 25,000 ducats were spent and this weighed even more on the population.

It was thus that some citizens, tired of the continuous abuses, gathered hidden behind a rock, which since then was called "u pizzon' du mal consigghj", that is "the stone of bad council", and organized the assassination of the "tyrant" set. On December 29, 1514, the count, who had just left the Cathedral, was assassinated in a side street of the same, which was later eloquently called "Way of ransom".

The castle thus remained unfinished. Since 2008, he has been interested, together with the surrounding park, in restoration works still in progress. Some of these interventions are aimed at the recovery of the moat with the restoration of the tufa walls. The project is financed also thanks to the funds of the Game of the Lotto.

Castello Tramontano

Il castello Jocteau, detto anche castello Duca degli Abruzzi o castello generale Cantore, è uno dei tre castelli valdostani costruiti nel XX secolo: gli altri due sono il castel Savoia a Gressoney e il castello Baron Gamba a Châtillon. Il castello, di proprietà del demanio militare e non visitabile, ospita il comando della Scuola militare alpina di Aosta e un piccolo museo dell'alpinismo.
Territorio
Il castello si trova a 654 m s.l.m. sulla collina di Beauregard a nord-est di Aosta e gode del panorama sulle cime del monte Emilius e della Becca di Nona. In posizione rialzata rispetto ad Aosta, il castello è a circa cento metri dall'antico alveo glaciale, per millenni catenaccio (in francese e in patois valdostano verrou) tra le valli del Gran San Bernardo e del Buthier. Le colline intorno al castello non raggiungono i 900 m di altezza e sono coperte di vigneti. Al limitare nord della proprietà militare, in un prato posto su di un rilievo tondeggiante, si conservano tracce di un tumulo funerario dell'età del ferro, probabilmente appartenuto ad un capo dei Salassi.
Il castello si trova in via Scuola Militare Alpina 17, proseguimento di via Duca degli Abruzzi, ed è raggiungibile dalla strada che da Aosta, attraversando il ponte sul Buthier nei pressi dell'arco di Augusto, porta all'ospedale Beauregard; proseguendo sulla stessa strada lungo la collina si raggiunge in pochi minuti l'entrata dal parco.

Castello Jocteau 

Ubicazione
Si trova in località Château nel comune di La Salle, su un picco roccioso dal quale domina strategicamente il paese e la Valdigne. La sua funzione era probabilmente quella di controllare la strada che scendeva dal Piccolo San Bernardo, sbarrando la strada ad eventuali invasori.

Storia
Fu edificato nella prima metà del XIII secolo, probabilmente tra il 1230 e il 1245, da Rodolfo Grossi, allora vescovo di Aosta e consigliere di Pietro II di Savoia, e appartenne a lungo alla famiglia Grossi che prese quindi il nome di Grossi du Châtelard.
Il castello venne citato per la prima volta nell'omaggio feudale del 1248, dove è definito come una torre con edifici adiacenti. Nel 1269 a nord del complesso venne costruita la cappella del castello, ma fu trasformata nel 1824 in una stanza.

A seguito di una disputa fra il duca Amedeo V ed il vescovo Roberto di Ginevra e suo cugino Amedeo II il conte, le terre di Châtelard vennero saccheggiate nel settembre 1285 dai delfinatesi. Nel 1301, Amedeo V concesse al castello delle libertà, che favorirono il commercio, fino a che, pochi anni più tardi, venne preso dal conte Odoardo di Savoia, in guerra con Amedeo V e con Amedeo III di Ginevra, figlio del precedente conte.

Il castello appartenne a più signori in consignoria e sono numerosi i passaggi di proprietà nei secoli per via non ereditaria: un documento attesta che il 17 ottobre 1323 Pierre du Châtelard cedette la sua parte al conte di Savoia, mentre nel 1371 un altro documento riporta che Jean du Châtelard vendette il suo dodicesimo a Emerico II di Quart. Nel 1558 i nobili Bernardin e Michel du Châtelard donarono la loro parte a Stéphane e Jean d'Avise. Nel 1608-1609 Gaspar e Melchior du Châtelard e la madre Françoise Gilly, vedova Châtelard, cedettero i loro diritti a Léonard d'Avise.

I nobili Châtelard si estinsero nel 1691, quando l'ultimo erede fu ucciso dai francesi durante un'invasione.

Nel 1793, le truppe rivoluzionarie francesi invasero nuovamente la Savoia e giunte in Valle d'Aosta distrussero buona parte del castello. Nel 1798 questo venne acquistato dalla famiglia Léaval, che ne conservò la proprietà fino al 1931. Alla morte di Jean-Baptiste Léaval la torre di Châtelard passò nelle mani di Elisa Donnet. Attualmente il castello è proprietà privata e appartiene alla famiglia Beneyton.
Il castello di Châtelard è composto da un alto donjon di forma circolare, al quale è addossato un corpo di abitazione squadrato circondati da un recinto murario di forma irregolare, tale da adattarsi alla conformazione del terreno. Questo tipo di fortificazione a pianta circolare e molto stretta, non comune all'epoca, era caro a Pietro II di Savoia, di cui Rodolfo Grossi era consigliere, e venne utilizzato solo per un breve periodo intorno alla metà del XIII secolo per poi essere sostituito dalla più nota pianta quadrata di ispirazione romanica, che aveva il vantaggio di presentare minori difficoltà costruttive.

La torre di Châtelard è alta circa 18 metri, ha un diametro di poco più di 5 ed è ancora oggi quasi intatta, mentre il resto del castello e la doppia cinta muraria sono ormai ridotti allo stato di rudere. L'accesso ad essa era posto ad una decina di metri dal suolo, per renderne più difficile la conquista in caso di attacco.

Per costruire il castello fu usato un sistema di piani inclinati su cui vennero trascinate, con corde o con l'ausilio di animali da soma, le pietre necessarie alla sua edificazione.

Châtelard Castle (Aosta Valley)

he castle is a set of buildings arranged within a fortified perimeter, which respects the natural contour of a difficult rocky slope.
The donjon standing on the highest point of the rock, the functional layout of individual buildings, the chapel and the winding passageways, are evidence of an early or Germanic fortified structure, although current architectural evidence point to more recent periods, as do the first narrative sources, which suggest its origins go back to the end of the 12th century (around 1185). After the death of Henry of Quart in 1377, the castle and fiefdom went to the Savoys, who sold it to Philibert Laschis in 1550, who in turn sold it almost immediately to the Balbis. In the 17th century, the castle belonged first to Count Nicholas Coardo and then to the Perrone of San Martino, who gave it the Municipality of Quart in 1800.


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Quart Castle

Saint-Marcel Castle is not far from Fénis Castle but it is historically bound to the Challant Family that controlled Valle d’Aosta during the Middle Ages and modern period. This classic castle-cum-rural residence is deemed to be one of the region’s most mysterious buildings: many people claim to have heard strange voices coming from the castle walls. Legend tells that a ghost haunts the building … so if you want to put your courage to the test step forward!

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