Castello Inferiore (Arnad)
| Castello Inferiore di Arnad | ||
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 Lower terrace of the Castello Inferiore di Arnad |
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| Alternative name (s): | Castello Vallaise, Palais de la Costetta | |
| Creation time : | 17th century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | restored | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone , plastered | |
| Place: | Arnad | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 38 '24.3 " N , 7 ° 43' 45.6" E | |
| Height: | 436 m | |
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The Castello Inferiore di Arnad ( French : Château inférieur d'Arnad ), also Castello Vallaise (French: Château Vallaise ) or Palais de la Costetta , is located in the municipality of Arnad in the Aosta Valley .
The hilltop castle , abandoned long ago or given into private hands, is one of those in the Aosta Valley that is least known about.
The Castello Inferiore is halfway up the hill on which the Castello Superiore is located. It is surrounded by terraces, perhaps to suggest an earlier wall ring. However, there are no documents about the castle from the 17th century, so there is no reliable information for the time before.
history
The Castello Inferiore in Arnad has medieval origins and has been structurally and decoratively changed many times over time, from the extensions to the changes in use, each phase of construction can be recognized by the corresponding architecture, whereas the frescoes , which have been damaged over time, can be recognized in some cases are layered one on top of the other according to contemporary tastes.
The current castle was built by the Vallaise in the 17th century. The family once owned the Castello Superiore from the Middle Ages in the same municipality, but in the 17th century it was no longer in the hands of the original owners, and on top of that it was in ruins and therefore without any strategic use.
Castello Vallaise was built near ruins of a previous mansion with which it was connected. In this early period the palace consisted of two still distinguishable blocks of buildings, which for a long time were inhabited by two different branches of the family, the Vallaise-Romagnanos and the Vallaise-Monaltos .
The name “Palais de la Costetta” comes from this time, following the Casaforte della Costa : In the decade between 1660 and 1670, the Baron Félix-Charles-François Vallaise-Romagnano gave the manor the appearance of a castle, while Alexandre de Vallaise did gave it the current appearance of a holiday residence. Alexandre de Vallaise , who died as Foreign Minister of Victor Emmanuel I , King of Sardinia , in 1823, was undoubtedly the most famous of the '' Vallaises '' and the most prominent representative of the family.
By the middle of the 19th century the Vallaise house was in decline and the male branch of the family died out. The castle was the residence of the last member of the family, Rosalie de Vallaise , daughter of Alexandre de Vallaise , until 1852 : shortly before, in 1848, the castle had been sold to the merchant Giacobini from Turin and then went from hand to hand until it was bought by the last in 1926 privately owned by De Bernardis .
The castle, which is currently not open to the public, was acquired by the regional administration in 2010 and had a restoration carried out with a view to the “restitution” of the castles of the Aosta Valley for the residents of the region and the tourists. As soon as the restoration is finished, the administration would like to open part of the castle to the public and turn part of the premises into a museum, while another part should be available to private and commercial companies in the region to present their businesses.
description
The building block commissioned by the Vallaises and which still exists today has a total of three floors and is flanked by two rectangular towers that serve decorative purposes. Inside there is a small courtyard with a stone pillared loggia. The castle has seven crenellated towers at the corners of the western courtyard, which is followed by a narrow courtyard, which is used as a command area on the east side of the castle.
The frescoes
Although detailed studies of this castle have not yet been published, a stylistic evaluation by Dott. Sandra Barberi performed. It is certain that the frescoes that have survived to this day are characteristic of the taste of the landed nobility of the Duchy of Savoy in the 12th century, whereas many picturesque decorations come from the interventions carried out on behalf of Baron Félix-Charles-François de Vallaise-Romagnano were. The frescoes in the main salon are valuable and show some views of the fiefs owned by the Vallaise family . In the gallery on the first floor there is also the cycle of pictures dedicated to the female epic, in which various heroines from different epochs are depicted, starting with the biblical figures Hagar and Tamar .
The Joseph Chapel
At the entrance to the castle there is a chapel dedicated to Saint Joseph, which was built in 1566 by order of Amadée de Vallaise-Côte . The outer facade shows the signs of the originally arched opening, which has been replaced by a door, over which a fresco of the crucifixion of Jesus is now placed and which is flanked by two windows. The interior of the chapel is characterized by a ribbed cross vault from the late Gothic period, on which an older starry sky and newer decorations of the later Art Nouveau style overlap. The stone altar dates from 1670 and was previously housed elsewhere in the castle. It was not until 1865 at the earliest - the exact date is unknown - that he was transferred to this position.
The park
A terraced park opens up around the castle, dominating the valley below. Here there is a second chapel, smaller and hexagonal, which depicts Saints Joseph and Anthony and the Virgin Mary , who are represented on a baroque altar on polychrome marble panels .
Events
An extraordinary opening of the castle took place on April 25-28. August 2011 as part of the Châteaux Ouverts program to show the progress of the restoration work. Also in 2011, the Castello Vallaise was the symbol of the breast cancer prevention campaign "Nastro Rosa 2011", which was advertised by the Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro i Tumori (LILT; German: Italian Association for the Fight against Tumors).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Castello Vallaise di Arnad . ICastelli.it. Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Retrieved on August 3, 2020.
- ^ Il castello inferiore di Arnad . Comunità montana Evançon. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved on August 3, 2020.
- ↑ Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 20.
- ↑ a b c Châteaux ouverts au Château Vallaise d'Arnad . Regione Valle d'Aosta. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
- ↑ a b c Presentation brochure for the extraordinary opening.
- ↑ Information board in front of the chapel at the “Châteaux Ouverts”, see here .
- ↑ Arnad: Château Vallaise testimonial di Nastro Rosa 2011 . In: Gazetta Matin . September 28, 2011. Accessed August 3, 2020.
swell
- Jean-Baptiste de Tillier: Historique de la vallée d'Aoste . L. Mensio. Pp. 86-89. (1737) 1887. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
- Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . Pp. 19-21.
- Teresa Charles: Il castello Vallaise ad Arnad: uno dei più cospicui complessi architettonici del Seicento, un interno ricco di affreschi, ispirati al mannerism, con scene bibliche, mitologiche, scene pastorali e venatorie, paesaggi, allegorie grott complesche, forse il più della ricco pittura barocca in Valle d'Aosta in Pagine della Valle d'Aosta . Volume June 2, 1995. pp. 98-103.
- Roberto Bertolin: Arnad: dalla casa forte della Costa al castello Vallaise, l'evoluzione della dimora e gli inventari del suo mobilio . in the Archivum Augustanum . 5 (2004). Pp. 7-128.
