Aymavilles Castle
Edited by:
sonia_f
Introduction
The castle of Aymavilles, which stands in the centre of the village on a morainic relief, owes its particular appearance to the coexistence of different styles, the result of the succession of interventions that have, over time, transformed the primitive and bellicose quadrangular tower into the graceful building we see today: the four circular stone towers frame a plastered central body that has lost the defensive characteristics of a castle in favour of loggias, porticoes and stuccoes typical of an elegant residential building.
The castle is in the municipality of Aymavilles, located just above Aosta along the Piccolo San Bernardo national road, on the other side of the Dora, along the road from Sarre to Cogne.
Owned by the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta, the castle cannot be visited internally; for information contact the A.P.T. Cogne Gran Paradiso - Tel 0165.74040 - 0165.74056
Description
The earliest information we can find on the fief and castle of Aymavilles dates back to 1278, when the castle consisted simply of a quadrangular tower surrounded by walls, according to the widespread type of enclosed castle typical of the first castles in Valle d'Aosta.
The 13th-century tower still has the large walls, characterised by being strongly scarped, and a thorn wall that divides it into two rooms along its entire height. It is a generally accepted hypothesis that the tower was completed by small towers hanging from the corners and a running battlement. Internally, the tower, covered by a wooden roof resting on the battlements, was divided into six levels, of which the basement level, which housed the chapel, kitchen and cellars, was covered by stone vaults that still exist today, while the remaining levels were separated by wooden floors.
In 1357, Aimone di Challant, enfeoffed three years earlier of the fief of Aymavilles by Amadeus VI, initiated defensive reinforcement work on the structure, which was probably considered too vulnerable due to the flatness of the surrounding land.
The four corner towers were then built: these have a circular plan and are unequal in diameter and height; a crenellation was also built with tufa battlements with cross-shaped embrasures supported by a triple order of bardiglio corbels, as well as a double wall with a moat and drawbridge.
These interventions made the castle of Aymavilles very similar to that of Ivrea, the construction of which was begun in 1356 by Amedeo VII of Savoy, in turn echoing the style of French feudal constructions of the time.
The four corner towers are made of tufa and travertine blocks and are characterised by the ample thickness of the masonry; at least two of the towers originally contained stone staircases of which some traces actually remain. At the same time, in the quadrangular tower, the windows were framed in stone and provided with seats, also in stone, similar to those in the castle of Fénis built by Aimon de Challant himself.
The towers were finished off by a conical wooden roof, as Nigra hypothesised in 1938, supported in his reconstruction hypothesis by a wall graffito found in the castle of Sarriod de la Tour, dating from the first half of the 16th century. This graffito shows the castle of Aymavilles with its towers finished off by a conical roof and surrounded by crenellated walls with corner towers, of which, however, no trace remains.
In 1450, James Francis II Count of Challant built a semi-circular building for residential use in front of the south-east tower, but apart from this intervention, the castle did not undergo any structural changes for a period of about three and a half centuries.
We have to go as far as 1713 to find Baron Joseph Félix de Challant busy transforming the castle of Aymavilles into a lordly residence, as the defensive needs justifying the fortified structure had ceased to exist; these works were completed in 1728, as can be seen from the date engraved in the plaster of the attic.
Galleries and loggias were built to link the 14th-century towers, hiding the primitive quadrangular tower from view. These new structures are plastered and adorned with stucco decorations, in the Baroque style, and provide a particular contrast to the tufa and travertine masonry of the corner towers.
Access to the castle, on the south-eastern side, is marked by a double staircase leading to a loggia, serving as a portico, surmounted by a balcony.
The construction of the galleries in the central part had the direct consequence of raising the roof, and it was then necessary to also raise the towers, so that they would not be crushed. The elevation was carried out by exploiting the 14th-century triple brackets, but the new battlements were constructed in an unorthodox manner and the towers, which had previously been finished with a conical roof, were left unroofed.
In addition, Joseph Félix's work involved the demolition of the semicircular body erected in 1450 by James Francis II and the outer fortifications, while the surrounding land - some eight hectares - was turned into a garden.
In 1882, when the castle of Aymavilles, after several changes of ownership, was bought by Senator Bombrini, two paintings representing the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel were found in the attics of the castle. This depiction of the Annunciation belongs to the polyptych in the castle of Issogne, together with two other similar panels, one depicting Renato di Challant and the other his wife Manzia Filiberta di Braganza with their daughters Filiberta and Isabella di Challant. The four panels are currently in Issogne Castle, but the polyptych is still without the central panel probably depicting the Madonna Enthroned.
During the year 2000, important work was carried out on the castle of Aymavilles; in particular, an imposing scaffolding was set up to carry out the static and stratigraphic checks necessary to establish the preliminary consolidation works for the restoration of the facades. The transfer of the furniture and furnishings was also carried out, with the disinfection and inventory of the individual pieces of the collection being carried out, and at the same time archaeological investigations began, useful for a better understanding of the complex construction phases of the manor house.
Historical background
The first document testifying to the existence of the fief and castle of Aymavilles dates back to 1278, the year in which Jacquemin of Aymavilles is reported to be the co-owner of the tower of the same name; the building was in fact broken up into numerous properties, as was usual for feudal estates: among the owners of the tower of Aymavilles was Gonteret of Courmayeur, co-owner of a twelfth part of the building.
At the same time, the power of the Savoys over the valley was increasing and this made it possible for Amadeus V and Amadeus VI, who succeeded their father in 1334, to redeem and acquire the various fractions of the fief of Aymavilles.
On 23 October 1354, Amadeus VI of Savoy was able to grant the fief of Aymavilles to Aimone of Challant, eldest son of Gottofredo II and already lord of Fénis, further strengthening the bond of loyalty between the Challants and the Savoyards.
The remaining portions of the fief still divided into other properties were acquired in 1357 by Amadeus VI, who was able to confer the entire ownership of the fief to Aimone di Challant on 24 February 1357, and it was in this year that Aimone began the fortification of the castle.
Joseph Félix was succeeded, about the middle of the 18th century, by Charles Octavius of Challant, who, however, had to hand over the castle to his brother Maurice Philippe following a heated dispute in which he lost the castle; but before abandoning the castle, Charles Octavius stripped it of much of its furniture and furnishings.
The new owner Maurizio Filippo di Challant died in 1804 without male heirs; the castle was then inherited by a niece, married Della Rocca, who lived there until 1857, when it was inherited by Carlo Renato Faussone di Lovencito. The latter's heirs sold the castle in 1870 to Count Clemente Asinari Verasis di Castiglione, from whom Senator Bombrini bought it in 1882.
In 1970 the Bombrini family sold the castle to the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta, the current owner of the castle of Aymavilles.