Castello di Sarre
| Castello di Sarre | ||
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 Castello di Sarre |
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| Alternative name (s): | Château Royal de Sarre | |
| Creation time : | 1709 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | restored | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Sarre | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 42 '46.1 " N , 7 ° 15' 8.6" E | |
| Height: | 644 m slm | |
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The royal Castello di Sarre ( French: Château de Sarre ) is a hilltop castle in the Lalex district of the municipality of Sarre in the Aosta Valley .
history
A permanent house or perhaps a simple watchtower on the site is documented as early as the 13th century, while it is documented for the year 1242 that there was an important meeting between Count Amadeus IV of Savoy and Gotofredo di Challant to coordinate how to act against the rebellion of Ugo di Bard , the master of the area. This alliance sanctioned the assignment of the castle to the grandson Giacomo di Bard , who did not take part in the revolt, and with it the title "Conte di Sarre", a dynasty whose ancestor he became.
When the Sarres became extinct in 1364, Count Amadeus VI. of Savoy the fief and the associated fortress house to Enrico di Quart , but after his death in 1377 the castle fell to the Savoy, who only lent it to the new fiefdom, Thibaud de Montagny , in 1405 .
From then on, the castle belonged to several families, including the Barons Genève-Lullin , the Leschauxs , the La Crêtes , the Roncas and the Rapets .
In 1708, Jean-François Ferrod from Arvier , an ambitious industrialist who had gotten rich by delivering supplies to the military and exploiting the copper mines of Ollomont , bought the castle. He had the castle completely rebuilt to demonstrate his commitment so that it would get its current appearance, with only the tower not having a new facade. In any case, a mortgage on the castle, following the economic ruin that befell the Ferrods , allowed the previous owners, the legitimate heirs of the Rapet family , to take over the castle again. Subsequently, ownership of the castle passed to Nicole de Bard and later to the Gerbore family .
In 1869 the castle became the property of the Savoy, who appointed Victor Emanuel II as the first Italian king. He bought the castle and received the title "Conte di Sarre". He commissioned final expansions, heightened the tower and the construction of the stables with the intention of transforming the castle into one of the largest seasonal residences dedicated to the passion for hunting. The "royal hunter" frequented the castle to take part in important hunting trips in the neighboring valleys, such as the Val di Cogne , the Valsavarenche and the Val di Rhêmes , areas that once formed his personal hunting ground and are now part of the extensive Gran Paradiso National Park are.
His successor Umberto I visited the castle just as frequently and had it decorated with numerous hunting trophies, which can be admired in the “Galleria dei Trophei” and in the museum collection. Queen Margherita, on the other hand, stayed at the castle only once, namely during the summer of 1880; after that she stayed at the neighboring Castello Savoia , which she had built near Gressoney .
Frequent visitors to Sarre Castle were also the Prince of Piedmont, Umberto , and his sister, Marie José , who, after the modernization of the rooms in 1935, used the castle as a seasonal residence for their numerous mountain tours, but it was also the place where the Princess went Maria José fled with her sons during the most difficult time of the Second World War .
The castle remained in the hands of the Savoy family until 1972, when it was bought by the Republic of Italy, which gave it to the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta in 1989 for a lengthy restoration before opening it to the public. Today the royal Castello di Sarre is an important testimony to the House of Savoy in the Aosta Valley, as well as a treasure trove of memories of the hunts and mountain tours of the Savoy.
description
construction
The castle consists of a massive, elongated structure on a hill with clearly visible terraces with a view of the A5 autostrada to Mont Blanc and is characterized by a high crenellated tower with a rectangular floor plan and cross-shaped windows in the middle. The building extends over three floors and has a homogeneous stone cladding, similar to numerous other castles in the region.
Adjacent to the main building, but within the wall ring that surrounds the entire relevant area, is a small, royal hall chapel , characterized by sober decorations and an altar clearly inspired by the Baroque . The back of the castle opens onto the broad meadow courtyard, flanked on both sides by two sidewalks and the stables that Victor Emmanuel II had built.
inside rooms
Originally the living rooms of the Hereditary Prince, those of the guard and a dining room were located on the ground floor, connected to the kitchens, the pantry and the cellar rooms in the basement. Since 1989 you can visit these rooms on the ground floor, in which a permanent exhibition about the House of Savoy and service rooms are housed.
On the first floor, on the other hand, are the royal living rooms, which with the help of some original furniture and meticulously reproduced materials from the inventory lists from 1890 found in the historical archive in Turin , recreate the living environment of the Umbertine era. The most characteristic room is the "Galleria dei Trofei", whose unique decorations were so desired by King Umberto I; they consist of hundreds of ibex horns , combined with painted flower decorations on the walls, analogous to those found in the adjoining salon of the same name.
The second floor originally housed the bedrooms for important visitors, but today's furnishings show the rooms as they were furnished according to the needs of the last rulers who lived there from 1935 to 1946; they also house their small collection of stories by Italian writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Royal Collections
The royal Castello di Sarre houses the Royal Collections, a type of museum of the House of Savoy's records.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Castello reale di Sarre .
- ^ A b c d André Zanotto: Valle d'Aosta: I Castelli & il Castello di Fenis . Musumeci, Quart 1993. ISBN 88-7032-446-X . Pp. 46-47.
swell
- Margherita Morra: Guida ai castelli della Val d'Aosta . Legenda, Novara 2001. ISBN 88-509-0050-3 . Pp. 86-90.
- André Zanotto: Valle d'Aosta: i castelli & il Castello di Fenis . Musumeci, Quart 1993. ISBN 88-7032-446-X . Pp. 46-47.
- Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 48.
- Giuseppe Corona: Il castello di Sarre: memorie storiche . Tipo-litografia G. Amosso, Biella 1881; New edition: Musumeci, Aosta 1973.
- Viviana Maria Vallet: Castello di Sarre. Museo e dimora reale . Tipografia valdostana, Aosta 2010.
- Laura Agostino: Sarre: microstoria di un castello reale in Pagine della Valle d'Aosta . Issue 2 (June 1995). Pp. 47-48.
- Maria Beatrice Failla: Castello di Sarre. Iconografia e storia sabauda dal XVI al XIX secolo nella collezione di stampe . Tipografia valdostana, Aosta 2002.
Web links
- Castello reale di Sarre . Comune di Sarre. Retrieved July 23, 2020.