A maze-like treasure trove of art and history
Indeed its chapel still houses paintings from the 13th and 15th centuries, but the real jewel in the crown, splendidly preserved, is the wonderful “ceiling of heads”, crafted around the 1430s. Small sculpted heads emerge from the ceiling of the hall intent on surprising, mocking or frightening visitors: fantastic characters, monsters, scantily dressed human beings, hybrid animals, dragons, and mermaids inhabit the beams of the room in a wooden forest of extraordinary originality.
In the castle some pieces of furniture and paintings belonging to the Sarriod family, its owners for nine centuries, are also preserved.
Information Sarriod de La Tour via della torre (parking) SAINT-PIERRE tel. 0165904689 e-mail: beniculturali@regione.vda.it |
Opening times October – March: 10.00 – 13.00 / 14.00 – 17.00 April – September: 9.00 – 19.00 Closed on Mondays except in July, August and public holidays Closed on 25th December and 1st January |
DIRECTIONS
From Aosta and the A5 (Aosta West exit) follow the SS26 to Courmayeur. Once you reach the base of the Church of Saint-Pierre, turn right and follow the signs for the car park.
From Courmayeur, once in Saint-Pierre, go past the castle – visible on the right – turn into the village and you reach the car park.
A BRIEF HISTORY
PROTAGONISTS





Jean de Sarriod, son of Louis, was born around 1402 and died in 1460. After his first wife, Catherine de Jean de Montbel, he married Beatrice di Martino d’Aglié, of the noble San Martino family, with whom he had two sons: Antoine, who continued the bloodline, and Pierre, who became canon of Aosta Cathedral.
In 1418 Jean and his brother Yblet divided the paternal inheritance, giving birth to two separate seigneuries, but also to two different dynastic lineages: the Sarriod d’Introd family descended from the firstborn Yblet, while that of Sarriod de La Tour originated with the secondborn Jean. The latter is remembered above all for having enlarged, around 1432, the previous fortified house, creating the form which it essentially maintains to this day.

In 1722 Jean-Gaspard Sarriod de La Tour was nominated as standard bearer of the provincial regiment of Aosta and subsequently entered the Royal Guards, moving to Turin. In 1727 he returned to Aosta, first as lieutenant in the milice regiment, then as a captain in the Aosta Company. In 1728 he married Marie-Madelaine, daughter of Jean-Baptiste de Tillier. The following years were marked by long legal proceedings regarding inheritance. Jean-Gaspard held many military roles with varying degrees of success, but the last ten years of his life were marked by serious financial problems. A lover of beauty and seduced by the luxury of the courts, between 1732 and 1733 he commissioned a portrait of himself by the famous painter Giovanna Battista Buzano, also known as “la Clementina”, which was only delivered to the Castle two years later as Jean-Gaspard was unable to pay for it: the painting is on display in the exhibition today. Jean Gaspard died in 1760.

Christine Elise Philomène was born on 6th May 1836 to Count Antoine-Marie Sarriod de La Tour “de Bard”, lieutenant in the “Novara” Regiment, and Marie-Elise de Coularé de la Fontaine, member of a noble Norman family. After the death of her brother Antoine Gaétan (1853) and her sisters Marie-Dauphine (1895) and Césarine- Clotilde (1897), Christine spent the rest of her days unmarried in Aosta, residing in the house on the southern side of what is now Piazza Chanoux, accompanied by her faithful maid Alexandrine, dedicating her life to religious works and charity. Last surviving member of her family, the countess died on 4th November 1923 and is buried, together with her mother and sisters, in the family crypt in Saint-Pierre cemetery.

On our journey around the rooms of the castle we meet Jean Sarriod de La Tour’s son Antoine (born before 1460, died around 1494), who commissioned the frescoes of the Crucifixion and of Saint Christopher carrying Baby Jesus on his shoulders, which can be seen at the entrance to the chapel. Indeed, in 1478 Antoine rebuilt it, establishing a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist, and given that the two characters appear in the foreground of the Crucifixion scene, the painting was probably produced in 1478 and the years immediately following. The anonymous painter of the two depictions is identified simply by a pseudonym,“Maître d’Antoine Sarriod de La Tour”, linking him to his client.
FOCUS
DISCOVER THE CASTLES, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MUSEUMS OF THE AOSTA VALLEY
CHOOSE YOUR DESTINATION
DISCOVER THE CASTLES, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MUSEUMS OF THE AOSTA VALLEY
CHOOSE YOUR DESTINATION

DISCOVER THE CASTLES, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MUSEUMS OF THE AOSTA VALLEY
CHOOSE YOUR DESTINATION

CHÂTEAU DE FÉNIS

CHÂTEAU DE FÉNIS 6
