Aymavilles Castle

Aymavilles Castle (Italian: Castello di Aymavilles, French: Château d'Aymavilles) is a castle located in Aymavilles, Aosta Valley, Italy.

The castle was built in a strategic position on top of a moraine hill, allowing it to control the passage through the central Aosta Valley where the Via delle Gallie passed connecting Italy and France, and to monitor access to the Cogne Valley, where stone was anciently quarried.

The earliest traces of the building date back to 1287. This ancient and original structure was very different from its current appearance, as it resembled more a fortified house, whose features can still be recognized today in Écours Castle in La Salle or La Mothe Castle in Arvier.

The structure was then equipped with a surrounding wall to shelter and protect the population in case of danger, following the model of Cly Castle and Graines Castle.

In 1354, the Counts of Savoy entrusted the castle to a branch of the Challant family, which for this reason would later be known as the Challant-Aymavilles line. A new floor was added and the keep was extended westwards. Aimone of Challant ordered the construction of a second defensive wall, a moat, and a drawbridge.

At the beginning of the 15th century, at the request of Amedeo of Challant, four circular towers were added. These towers were preserved through later renovations and would come to define the castle's distinctive exterior appearance. The stones used for the construction are tuff and marble. A few years later, Amedeo's son, Giacomo of Challant, added one floor as well as corbels and battlements.

In 1728, Giuseppe Felice of Challant converted the castle into a residence, dismantling its external fortifications. Since then, the castle has remained largely unchanged.

Text adapted from “Aymavilles Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Aymavilles Castle ranks #3,920 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #309 of the 487 mapped in Italy. Founded 1287, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 860 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,250 times in the last 60 days, more than 55% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 57,000 visitors in 2022. 8 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Turin, 77 km away. It is one of the 16 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Aosta Valley. It is stop 1 of 18 on the Aosta Valley castle route, Aosta to Ivrea. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.

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