Castello Superiore (Arnad)

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Castello Superiore di Arnad
Castello Superiore di Arnad from the Machaby road to Tête du Cou

Castello Superiore di Arnad from the Machaby road to Tête du Cou

Alternative name (s): Castello di Arnad
Creation time : 12th or 13th century
Castle type : Höhenburg, rocky location
Conservation status: ruin
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Arnad
Geographical location 45 ° 38 '32 "  N , 7 ° 43' 54.6"  E Coordinates: 45 ° 38 '32 "  N , 7 ° 43' 54.6"  E
Height: 596  m
Castello Superiore (Aosta Valley)
Castello Superiore

The Castello Superiore di Arnad ( French : Château inférieur d'Arnad ), also simply Castello di Arnad , is the ruin of one of the oldest castles in the Aosta Valley . The rock castle dates back to the 12th century and is located on a natural rocky promontory above the Arnad settlement with its permanent houses to control the old Via Francigena , which connects the central Aosta Valley with the Gressoney valley over the hill of the Machaby Valley .

history

Floor plan of the Castello Superiore di Arnad (Carlo Nigra)
The castles of Arnad: Upper left the Castello Superiore, lower center the Casaforte della Costa , lower right the Castello Valleise .
View of the Castello Superiore from the village, drawing by Carlo Nigra after a sketch by Alfredo d'Andrade

The Castello di Arnad was first mentioned in a papal bull from 1207 mentioning the chapel dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene and Archangel Michael , but its origins and its first owners are uncertain.

One theory suggests that Saverio di Arnad (French: Xavier d'Arnad ), or in general the De Arnado family, had the castle built in the 12th or 13th century.

Another theory supports the opinion that the castle belonged to the Lords of Bard as early as the 12th century , and that it was Guglielmo di Bard who received it as a gift from the House of Savoy . According to this theory, the castle together with the Castello di Pont-Saint-Martin came into his possession after the heavy fighting with his brother Ugo di Bard . In 1239, for economic reasons, half of the Castello di Arnad was lent to Ruffino de Arnado , and in 1293 the entire complex was sold to the Lords of Vallaise .

The Vallaises family lived there for the entire 14th century and it is recorded in the chronicles that they entertained Count Amadeus IV of Savoy for lunch in 1351 . The central part, which consists of a building from the 14th century, with battlements , with large chimneys and contemporary coats of arms as frescoes and graffiti on the walls and flanked by a slim tower in which the latrine was housed, dates from the Vallaise rule a unique piece in what was then the Aosta Valley, probably inspired by a tower for the same purpose that was added to the Papal Palace in Avignon a few years earlier . Due to the unsuitability of the buildings for other than war purposes, the complex was abandoned from the 15th century and from the 17th century the family moved to the Casaforte della Costa , also in Arnad, but at a lower altitude. This was the end of the heyday of the upper rock castle, which has retained all its Romanesque characteristics without later intermingling, so that together they can be considered a rare historical and architectural example in the contemporary Ussel castle in Châtillon .

Today the castle ruins are not open to the public and are in private hands, unlike the Castello Inferiore, also known as "Castello Vallaise", which the autonomous region of Aosta Valley bought in 2010.

In the movie

In 2008, the Castello Superiore di Arnad shot the scene "in the museum" of the film The crime is our business (French original title: Le crime est notre affaire ) by the French director Pascal Thomas .

gallery

  • Main facade of the Castello di Arnad

  • The Castello di Arnad from the east with the central Aosta Valley in the background

  • The Castello di Arnad from the Arnad Church

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ a b Castello superiore . Stidy. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  2. ^ A b Margherita Morra: Guida ai castelli della Val d'Aosta . Legenda, Novara 2001. ISBN 88-509-0050-3 . P. 14.
  3. ↑ a b Castello superiore . Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta. September 21, 2011. Archived from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved on August 19, 2020.
  4. ↑ The building can be recognized in the film, even if nobody explicitly mentions that it is the Castello Superiore.
  5. ↑ Le crime est notre affaire . International Movie Database. Retrieved August 19, 2020.

swell

  • Margherita Morra: Guida ai castelli della Val d'Aosta . Legenda, Novara 2001. ISBN 88-509-0050-3 . Pp. 14-18.
  • Jean-Baptiste de Tillier: Historique de la vallée d'Aoste . L. Mensio. Pp. 86-89. (1737) 1887. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  • Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 19.
  • Carlo Nigra: Torri e castelli e case forti del Piemonte dal 1000 al secolo XVI. La Valle d'Aosta . Musumeci, Quart 1974. pp. 53-54.
  • Roberto Bertolin: Il castello superiore di Arnad: note storiche , in the Archivum Augustanum . 7 (2007). Pp. 141-185.
  • André Zanotto: Castelli valdostani . Musumeci, Quart (1980) 2002. ISBN 88-7032-049-9 . Pp. 58-59.

Web links

Commons : Castello Superiore (Arnad)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files