Torre di Pramotton
| Torre di Pramotton | ||
|---|---|---|
 Torre di Pramotton |
||
| Alternative name (s): | Tour de Pramotton, Torre di Vert, Tour de Bellegard, Tour d'Aviès | |
| Creation time : | 12th Century | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, hillside location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Donnas | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 35 '10.9 " N , 7 ° 47' 24.9" E | |
| Height: | 546 m slm | |
|
||
The Torre di Pramotton , French Tour de Pramotton , and Torre di Vert , Tour de Bellegarde or Tour d'AVIES is a medieval tower ( keep ) in the district Pramotton below Grand-Vert in the town of Donnas in the Valle d'Aosta . The tower is located on a slope of the Envers ( orographic right side of the Aosta Valley) at a height of approx. 540 meters above the level of Pont-Saint-Martin and guarded the access to the Lystal .
description
The tower has a hexagonal floor plan and is provided with a battlement at each corner of the square, upper part . These corners are reinforced with segments. The access door ( high entrance ) is, as with other donjons of simple castles in the Aosta Valley, a few meters above the ground, so that it was easier to defend against an attack by pulling in the access stairs; in this case the door is 4 meters high. The most vulnerable sides of the tower were protected by a curtain wall for defense: there are traces of this wall around the tower. There were wooden floors inside the tower.
history
The tower probably dates from the 12th century and the name "Tour d'Aviès" indicates that it is probably a viewing tower ("avis" in French can be translated as "signaling" or "view") in visual contact with both deals with the Castello di Pont-Saint-Martin and the fortress of Bard . According to legend, it belonged to the Lords of Bard: Some documents confirm that in 1214, at the time of the succession dispute between the two heirs of the Bard family , Guglielmo di Pont-Saint-Martin and Ugo di Bard , the latter, already Lord von Bard , who inherited the Torre di Pramotton.
In 1242, during a new phase of Savoyard policy to protect the borders, Count Amadeus IV of Savoy obliged Ugo di Bard to unite the fiefs.
André Zanotto raises doubts about the construction time, citing the agreement of 1277 between the Lords of Pont-Saint-Martin and Philip I of Savoy , in which it appears that the tower had been built shortly before. In fact, the document states:
"(...) sur la bastie nouvellement edifiée d'ordre dudit comte au dessus de Donnas (...)" (German: (...) on the fortress newly built by order of the above-mentioned Count of Donnas (...))
The tower, which was the first defensive outpost when coming from the Canavese to the Aosta Valley, was always manned by an armed militia: for example, when the Marquis of Monferrato targeted the lower valley in 1293 , or, in 1386, from the fortress Bard two people were dropped here for a month to guard the tower and prevent it from falling into the hands of the Tuchinaggier :
"In garnisone et custodia, ne Tuchini de valle Brocii ipsam caperent." ( Eng . : garrison guarded so that the Tucchinaggier from the Broci valley did not take them.)
The elevated access to the tower is crowned by a blind arch.
The inside of the tower
Detail on the tower: a gargoyle in stone
Ruins at the base of the tower
Ascent
From the hamlet of Pramotton (Donnas) at a height of 300 meters you walk along the canal of the hydroelectric power station and then, after a few hundred meters on a large meadow on the bank of the Dora Baltea , take a mulipath on the right that leads into one Chestnut forest leads. The tower can be found on a small ledge; it is freely accessible. The ascent, classified as "E" (easy ascent), takes less than an hour and climbs about 250 meters over fairly steep terrain.
Individual references and comments
- ↑ "Vert" refers to another parish as "Donnas".
- ↑ a b c Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 19.
- ↑ a b c d La torre di Pramotton . Comune di Donnas. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
- ↑ a b c André Zanotto: Castelli valdostani . Musumeci, Quart (1980) 2002. ISBN 88-7032-049-9 . P. 91.
swell
- Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 .
- André Zanotto: Castelli valdostani . Musumeci, Quart (1980) 2002. ISBN 88-7032-049-9 . P. 91.
- Carlo Nigra: Torri e castelli e case forti del Piemonte dal 1000 al secolo XVI. La Valle d'Aosta . Musumeci, Quart 1974. p. 28.
Web links
- La torre di Pramotton . Comune di Donnas. Retrieved August 14, 2020.