Verrès Castle (Castello di Verrès)

Verrès Castle

 

Location: Challand-Saint-Anselme, Aosta Valley Map

Constructed: 14th century

The castle of Verrès is one of the most famous medieval castles in the Aosta Valley. Built as a military fortress by Ibleto di Challant in the 14th century, it was one of the first examples of a monobloc castle, i.e. consisting of a single building unlike the older manors formed by a series of buildings enclosed by a wall.

It stands on a rocky promontory which dominates the town of Verrès and the Val d'Ayas road, on the opposite side of the Dora Baltea with respect to the castle of Issogne, and externally it appears as an austere cube of thirty meters on each side, practically devoid of decorative elements.

 

History of Verres Castle

The origins

The first documents attesting the existence of a castle in Verrès, owned by the De Verretio family, date back to 1287. At the time, control of the area was disputed between the bishop of Aosta and some noble families, feudal lords of the Counts of Savoy: the De Turrilia, the De Arnados and the De Verretios. The latter in particular had, over the years, bitter disagreements with the prelate, which culminated with the assault on the episcopal stronghold of Issogne in 1333.

Towards the middle of the fourteenth century the De Verretios died out without leaving possible heirs: in this way their lands returned to the hands of the counts of Savoy, who granted them in 1372 to Ibleto di Challant, having distinguished himself in covering various positions at their service.

Ibleto completely rebuilt the castle, creating a practically impregnable military fortress and different from most of the coeval Aosta Valley castles, which consisted of a set of buildings enclosed by a wall.

An inscription in Latin on the architrave of the first door, which you meet going up from the ground floor, recalls how Ibleto's works ended in 1390:
 
«MCCCLXXXX Magnific(us) D(omi)nus Eball(us) D(omi)nus Challandi Montioveti, etc. edificare fecit hoc castrum viventibus egregiis viris Francisco de Challand D(omi)nus de Bossonens et Castellionis et Joh(ann)e de Challand D(omi)no de Cossona ei(us) filiis.»
 
"In 1390 the magnificent lord Ebalo, lord of Challant, Montjovet etc., had this castle built when the distinguished lords Francis of Challant, lord of Bossonens and Châtillon, and John of Challant, lord of Cossonay, his sons, were alive"

 

The 15th century

Upon Ibleto's death in 1409, the castle and his other assets passed to his son Francesco, who on 15 August 1424 received the title of first count of Challant from the Savoys. Verrès remained one of his most important fiefdoms, but he did not substantially change the appearance of the castle.

Francesco died in 1442 without male heirs and left his possessions to his daughters Margherita and Caterina. The castle of Verrès thus found itself at the center of an inheritance dispute between Caterina, who, brandishing her father's will, claimed it for herself, and some male cousins including Giacomo di Challant Aymavilles, who contested the inheritance on the basis of the Salic law , which did not allow female succession.

The fortress of Verrès thus became one of the strongholds of Caterina and her husband Pietro Sarriod d'Introd during her fight with Giacomo. According to tradition, the day of the SS. Trinity of 1449 Caterina and Pietro left the castle and went down to the town square, where they danced with the young people of the village. This episode greatly increased the support of the inhabitants for Caterina and is commemorated every year in the historical carnival of Verrès.

In 1456, when her husband died in an ambush, Caterina had to surrender and her possessions, including the fief and the castle of Verrès, passed to her cousin Giacomo di Challant Aymavilles, who thus became the second count of Challant.

The sixteenth-century fortress
The castle then followed the fortunes of Giacomo's descendants, passing first to his son Luigi, then to his nephew Filiberto and then to the latter's son Renato di Challant, who, however, used the nearby and more comfortable castle of Issogne as their residence.

Since its construction by Ibleto, about one hundred and fifty years earlier, the castle had not undergone any particular modification or maintenance work. In 1536 Renato, with the help of the Spanish captain Pietro de Valle, a famous military architect, enlarged the fortress, adapting it to the firearms of the time. He thus had a wall built at the base of the cubic building equipped with buttresses and polygonal turrets, suitable for the use of cannons, which he equipped with artillery pieces from his fiefdom of Valangin in Switzerland. Renato also owes the current frontispiece accessible via a drawbridge, new sixteenth-century cross windows and new Moorish arched doors.

The works are commemorated by a stone plaque located above the entrance to the frontispiece, flanked by the coats of arms of Renato di Challant (on the left of the text) and his second wife Mencia di Braganza (on the right of the text):

Arcem per excellentissimum ebailum de challant editam illustris renatus challandi comes de baufremont viriaci magni ama ville et collogniaci baro. castellionis S. marcelli yssognie valangini montisalti grane verrecii usselli etc. dominus ordinis miles ac marescallus sabaudie. intus decorauit forasque structuris bellicis (muniu)it. anno Xpi. 1536

A castle issued by the most excellent ébail de challant to the illustrious reborn count of challan de Baufremont, viriac of the great ama ville and baron of Collognia. castellionis S. marcelli yssognie valangini montisalti grane verrecii usselli etc. lord of the order, soldier and marshal of Savoy. he decorated the inside and the outside with military structures (fortified). in the year Xpi 1536

 

The decline and nineteenth-century recovery

Upon the death of Renato di Challant, without male heirs, in 1565, his assets passed to his son-in-law Giovanni Federico Madruzzo, husband of his daughter Isabella, but a long legal dispute arose with other male relatives of the Challant family, again due to the Salic law, that he did not foresee Isabella being able to inherit her father's assets.

The Savoy then regained direct control over the castle of Verrès, using it as a lookout and military garrison, but in 1661 the Duke of Savoy Carlo Emanuele II had the castle's armaments dismantled to transfer them, together with those of the castle of Montjovet, to the fort of Bard , in a more strategic position for the control of the Valley, and the castle was abandoned.

In 1696 the legal disputes between the heirs of Isabella di Challant and Giovanni Federico Madruzzo and the Challant family finally ended, and the castle returned to the property of the latter. The castle remained the property of the Challant family until the extinction of the lineage in the 19th century, but was no longer inhabited and fell into ruin. The sturdy external masonry resisted well but the wooden roof was demolished in order not to pay the tax fee, leaving the upper floors exposed to the elements.

After a series of changes of ownership it was finally purchased on behalf of the Italian State in 1894 by Alfredo d'Andrade, then superintendent of the monuments of Piedmont and Liguria, who oversaw an initial restoration. After the Second World War the castle, declared a national monument, passed to the Valle d'Aosta Region, which in the 1980s rebuilt the stone slab roof. A further restoration took place in 1994.

In 2004 the castle was closed to allow for the adaptation and upgrading of the systems. Following the reopening in 2007, it can be visited on guided tours.

 

Description

The castle, built to be a military fortress, stands on a rocky promontory overlooking the Evançon stream which dominates the town of Verrès. In addition to being difficult to access and easily defensible, its position allowed it to control the town below, the central valley and the road that climbs along the Val d'Ayas, an important communication route at the time. In the 18th century, the Valle d'Aosta historian Jean-Baptiste de Tillier in his Historique de la Vallée d'Aoste described the castle of Verrès as «Et l'on peut dire sans exagération que c'est un des plus solides et plus fameux batiments qu'un vassal ait pu faire construire dans le domaine d'un prince souverain où celluy-cy tient le rang d'un des plus renommés», calling it one of the most solid and most famous buildings that a vassal could have built in the domain of a sovereign prince.

Externally it looks like an austere cubic block of 30 meters on each side, surrounded at the base by a wall that encloses the entire top of the rock peak. The walls, more than 2.5 meters thick, are surmounted by a continuous row of corbels, which hide a machicolation, and on them there are medieval mullioned windows and Renaissance cross windows.

 

The entrance

Every element of the castle seems to have been designed to make the fortress more defensible. It is accessed on foot via a mule track that climbs along the mountain until you reach the entrance to the city wall, which was once accessible via a drawbridge. This entrance, as well as the external walls, were built by Renato di Challant in the 16th century, as indicated in the inscription above the entrance door.

Those who follow the path to go up to the castle always offer the right flank to the fortress. This was a further precaution for defence, since the soldiers of the time used to carry the shield in the left hand and therefore the right was the most exposed side.

After passing the door you find yourself in a front door, uphill and in a curve to make the possible use of a ram difficult. On this space opens the door that leads to the internal park and the ramparts, once occupied by the stables, not accessible to visitors.

After passing the front door, you reach the guardhouse, under which the prisons were located, used as a ticket office for visits to the manor. Opposite is the actual entrance to the castle, closed by a wooden portal, a reconstruction of the original one, reinforced by iron nails and enclosed by a double round and pointed arch.

 

The ground floor

Entering the castle you find yourself in a square hall covered by a pointed arch vault, a further element of defense of the castle. In fact, several loopholes and a trap door on the ceiling open on it, from which it would have been possible to target any invaders trapped inside.

To truly enter the central body of the manor, you still have to go through a double portal surmounted by a round arch on the side towards the entrance hall and by a pointed arch on the side facing the internal courtyard, once protected by a gate that flowed between the two portals.

The internal courtyard of the castle is simply a square space which leads to the two large halls, located on the eastern and western sides of the manor. The opening of the roof in correspondence with the courtyard allowed better lighting of the rooms and the collection of rainwater in the large cistern located underneath it. The same floor of the courtyard was built on a slope so as to convey all the water towards its centre, where the opening of the cistern is located, in order to have a reserve of water, precious in case of siege.

The internal division of the castle is as simple and essential as its external appearance. The ground floor, as well as the entrance hall, is made up of three rooms which surround the internal courtyard.

The entire eastern side of the castle is occupied by a large rectangular room covered by a round barrel vault. This was the only unheated hall in the castle and was probably used as a storeroom and armoury. It is used as a ballroom during the historical carnival celebrations.

On the opposite side is the large western hall, accessible via a portal and covered by a vault, both with pointed arches. This hall, probably used as lodgings and dining room for soldiers and service personnel, was heated by two monumental fireplaces and connected via a serving hatch to the kitchen located on the south side of the ground floor and, via a staircase, to the kitchen northwest of the upper floor.
From this hall there is also a loophole that points to the entrance hall. In some points the rock emerges here: the castle is in fact founded on the bare rock and it would have been impossible to remove the outcrops without compromising its stability.

 

The first floor

«A giant staircase attacks the walls from the courtyard, surrounds them halfway up with large shelves and from these it pushes up again to wrap them once again all around. It is a castle of arches, all granite, which stand out one from the other with the quickness of an eighteen-year-old Hercules.»
(Joseph Giacosa)

The first floor was reserved for the lords of the manor. It is accessed by climbing the monumental staircase with flying buttresses about two meters wide which, starting from the internal courtyard, climbs along the internal walls of the building.

The architrave of the first door that you meet going up the staircase bears the engraving which recalls Ibleto di Challant as builder of the castle in 1390. The door leads into a room used as a guardhouse, which is located above the entrance hall of entrance. On the floor of the room is the trapdoor from which it was possible to target the enemies below. The room is lit on the north side by a window from which it is possible to see the castle of Villa a Challand-Saint-Victor.

This room leads to the second kitchen of the garrison, once connected to the hall on the ground floor by a staircase. Like the rooms below and above, the room is provided with a small door that opens onto the void in the northern wall of the castle, perhaps a sort of emergency exit. The room also includes a wall pantry, with a hole for better storing food, thanks to the cold outside, and a fireplace on the wall that borders the noble dining room, with the dual function of cooking food and heating the room adjacent.

The kitchen leads to what used to be the master dining room, also accessible from the grand staircase, which occupies the rest of the western side of the floor. The room was heated by two large braziers placed in its corners and was connected by a serving hatch to the kitchen on the south side of the castle. The room is illuminated by Gothic mullioned windows that overlook the outside and a fourteenth-century quadrifora that opens onto the internal courtyard.

The master kitchen, located on the southern side of the floor, is equipped with three large fireplaces, of which the one on the side towards the staircase is of exceptional size and originally intended for cooking whole animals. The room is covered by a vault with multiple ribs dating back to the times of Renato di Challant and which shows his coat of arms in the center together with the letters R and M, initials of Renato and his wife Mencia, the only original covering of the castle, unlike the others , redone during the restoration of the twentieth century. The eastern side of the kitchen is occupied by some built-in wardrobes and a large pantry created in the cavity of the wall.

The eastern side of the castle is occupied by what used to be the lords' bedrooms, heated by large stone fireplaces and covered by wooden coffered ceilings, and equipped with a total of five wall latrines which discharged towards the outside onto the rocks below .

 

The upper floors

The second floor of the manor, which can be visited during guided tours, mirrors the division of the first floor and was probably used by officials and guests of the castle. Above the master dining room is a hall, probably once used as a council chamber. The wooden ceiling and stone fireplace of this room, as well as those of the other rooms on the floor, have been rebuilt and restored in recent decades. They had in fact deteriorated due to the bad weather to which they had been exposed following the demolition of the roof of the manor. The rooms on the eastern side had two wall latrines similar to those on the first floor. The room above the kitchen in the northwest corner has, like the room below, a small door overlooking the outside, perhaps used as a service exit or perhaps for signalling.

A completely reconstructed wooden staircase connects this floor to the attic. The subdivision of the rooms is the same as that of the floors below and it was probably used by the armigers and the service personnel of the castle, as well as as a stone deposit. From the attic it is possible to access, towards the outside, the patrol path which runs along the four sides of the building for a length of about 120 meters and which had 148 machicolations, and towards the inside to a wooden gallery which overlooks the internal courtyard and whose roof served as a valley for rainwater. The stone roof was completely rebuilt in the eighties.

 

The castle in mass culture

The castle of Verrès is one of the most visited monuments in the Valle d'Aosta and in the three-year period 2007-2009 it counted around 20,000 visitors each year.

In 1884 the manor was used by Alfredo d'Andrade as one of the models for the Rocca del Borgo Medievale in Turin, built on the occasion of the Italian General Artistic and Industrial Exposition of that year.

Starting from 1949, every year in Verrès, on the occasion of the carnival, the episode is recalled during which, on 31 May 1449, Caterina di Challant and her husband Pietro d'Introd descended on the town square and began to dance with the inhabitants of the village. During the four days of the carnival, the castle hosts dinners and masquerade balls and the representation of the opera "A game of chess" by Giuseppe Giacosa.