Cly Castle

Introduction

Perfectly aligned with the castles of Montjovet and Ussel, taking advantage of the three highest points in the Ayas valley, the castle of Cly dominates, from the entrance side, wide meadows sloping towards the mountains. Apparently it is because of this feature that the castle took the name Cly, through the expressions de clito and clivo. 

Description

The castle of Cly is a typical example of the primitive building typology of Valle d'Aosta castles, with a particularly large masonry enclosure enclosing the other elements, which in this case are the tower, the chapel, the residential buildings and the guardhouse; let us see these elements one by one, starting with the enclosure.
 The enclosure wall is still preserved along the entire original perimeter, and it appears that, at least in the western area, it was the last element of the entire complex to be built. In the northern side of the walls, the gateway to the castle opens, thus identifying a larger enclosure, from which, through a passageway, one reaches the second walled enclosure; the third enclosure, built close to the tower, is accessed through a further gate with loopholes. The main enclosure follows the contour of the plateau on which the castle was built and is equipped with loopholes and windows; traces of a gateway can be found at the entrance door, while in the north-western corner one can see the remains of the building under which the water cistern was located, plastered with earthenware to ensure its impermeability.
 The tower is a fundamental element of castles. At Cly, it is built on a steeply sloping scarp, created by shaping the live rock on which the construction was set in order to offer greater resistance to attack by mines. Square in plan, it measures 9.40 x 9.00 metres, is 18 metres high and has regular, solid masonry. It appears to have been crowned by two openings on each side, rather than actual battlements, covered by a now collapsed roof; the interior is divided into three floors by wooden decks. The masonry of the tower is relayed with regular courses of stone ashlars laid horizontally, with a few sections of opus spigatum and the presence of larger angular ashlars. On the outer surface of the tower, one can see a mullioned window with a double lancet window and signs of masonry revetment, which may testify to maintenance or superelevation works. Access to the tower was initially by means of a wooden staircase that allowed access to a round-headed doorway several metres above the ground; later, a stone staircase supported by a rampant arch was built, now collapsed, of which Nigra's photographic evidence remains (Carlo Nigra, Castelli della Valle d'Aosta, Musumeci, Aosta, 1974).
 The chapel is small in size and is perfectly oriented with the small apse to the east and the opposite side with an access door to the west; it has another opening on the southern wall, which probably allowed direct access from the residential area. The apse is decorated with frescoes dating from around 1200, the year in which the chapel began to be mentioned in historical documents: in 1207, the 'chapel sancti Mauricij de castro Cliuo' is mentioned in a papal bull as belonging to the convent of Saint-Gilles of Verrès. Nigra, who, let us remember, began writing his book "Castles in Val d'Aosta" at the end of the 19th century and completed it in 1937, although it was not published until 1974, brings us evidence of the state of the frescoes. Thus Carlo Nigra wrote about the chapel in the castle of Cly: "In the interior, its walls bear interesting remains of paintings from various periods [...]. The paintings of the oldest layer are only decorative in character and seem to have been interspersed with figures of saints that have now disappeared: they are executed by a skilful hand. The paintings of the second layer are executed in lime over the figures of the first layer and depict ashlars on the exterior, and on the interior walls figures of saints with Christ between the symbols of the Evangelists. On the walls themselves, one can glimpse other figures of saints, the Madonna, Saint George, etc., painted above a plinth depicting cloth. These are coarse works carried out in a third period over curling applied over the primitive plaster."
The chapel's masonry presents numerous pieces made of opus spigatum, especially in the upper parts; the pilasters marking the apse and the sides are joined together by hanging arches, which testify to a date not later than the 12th century.
The residential and guardhouse buildings are now reduced to a state of ruins but must have been well built, as the stonework and the remains of a chimney, windows and plasterwork testify.

 Historical background

During the 13th century, the fief of Cly already existed, as Boson III, son of Boson II of Challant Viscount of Aosta, could boast the seigniory of Chatillon and Cly.
 An act of 1242 bears witness to how Bosone III's sons, Goffredo Aimone and Bosone IV, received these fiefs from the Count of Savoy; in the middle of the 13th century, the three divided up the family's possessions and Bosone IV received possession of Cly (while Châtillon went to his brother, Geoffrey II), thus becoming the progenitor of the Challant branch of Cly. It is to him that we owe the castle of Cly, presumably built in 1251 on the remains of a 12th century castle according to the primitive typology of Valdostan castles.
Boniface was succeeded by his son Pietro who, with a decidedly lively character, opposed Count Amedeo IV of Savoy at the end of the 14th century over a question of noble titles and was therefore declared expired from his feuds; furthermore, Amedeo IV confiscated Pietro's possessions and took possession of Cly castle, which thus became crown property in 1384.
Then, in 1550, Duke Charles the Good of Savoy granted the fief of Cly to a Spanish captain who was stationed in Ivrea at the time with his armies; however, he ceded it to the French and was then dethroned, in 1554, by Emanuele Filiberto, in favour of Giovanni Fabri of Aosta. In 1634, the castle passed from the Fabri family to Baron Filiberto Roncas, lord of Châtel Argent, who gave it as a dowry to one of his daughters.
Towards the end of the 17th century the feud was divided into several parts and the castle of Cly was definitively abandoned and part of the material was reused by the Roncas family to build a house in Chambave: thus began the ruin of the castle of Cly, which transformed it into the ruin we see today.