Heritage: La Salle

The renovations of the entire village of Fenêtre a La Salle (2000) represents a singular architectural entity, based on the reinterpretation and renewal of rural architecture with the creation of unexpected common rooms. The large panoramic openings that create gaps in the stone walls, the differently styled balconies, the Medieval reconstruction of the jambs and arches and highly irregular lose covering are of great interest.

The municipal building (maison communale) is the starting point of a brief tour that leads to the discovery of some very interesting points of the local architecture.Extremely well restored by the Engineer Jaccod, the “maison Gerbollier” today holds La Salle’s administrative offices.It is an age-old noble home of the Viard family, made up of different buildings surrounding an internal courtyard, where you can enter from the sourthern part, through a magnificent stone cut doorway.Some of the doors and windows inside the building have shapes that recall the splendors of this XVI century building, whilst the beams of the buildings show how this rural complex saw many strong transformations during 1713 and 1819. Following the road towards east you go up towards the village of Ecours.On the square, the chapel is embellished by frescoes representing the Visitation of the Virgin and a huge St. Cristophe (St. Christopher); placed on the side is a fountain and the chapel is located between a series of age-old rural homes, grouped one against each other with the dominating part of the medievel square tower, built by the De Curiis nobles who gave the name of the village.The tower is the heart of a great barn that still today works.In the valley on the mountainside of Ecours,a windmill once used the waters of the “ru” (irrigation canal) of Moyes, accessible through a shaded path that starts from Prarion, heading towards Moyes.

On the wide fan of La Salle, in the village of Château, stands Châtelard castle, built, according to the historian Jean-Baptiste De Tillier, by Rudolph Grossi, bishop of Aosta in 1243 and archbishop of Tarantasia in 1246. It is first mentioned in a document from 1248, and presents the type of circular tower reminiscent of the fortified constructions of Count Peter II of Savoy, to whom Grossi was a close advisor.
All around, mediaeval dwellings of all shapes and sizes dot the land like small sentries with an ancient charm: the Pascal fortified house, the Aragon fortified Manor house, Maison Gerbollier, just above, the home of the Ecours and again, in the village of Derby, the notarial castle.

Located north of the municipal seat, on the road that goes up to the hill villages, this massive square tower is what remains of the 13th century’s fabric, together with a short section of the ancient perimeter wall.
The building, during the Middle Ages possession of the Lescours (de Curiis) family, one of the best known in Valdigne, was enfeoffed for an half to the Chatelard nobles already in 1430.
In 1551 the castle went to the Bozel family in 1551 and later, always during XVIth century, it was transferred to the Gal and Malliet families jointly.
The fiefdom was reunited in the following century by the Passerin, who still owned it in 1730.

Dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, it is mentioned for the first time in a document dated 1330. The facade is completely frescoed with images of Saint Christopher holding the Infant Jesus and Saint John the Baptist and the adoration of the three wise Kings. Inside the chapel there is the wooden separation grille and an altarpiece of the Madonna of Oropa.

Dated 1621, its facade (unfortunately in very poor condition) is completely frescoed with a representation of the Universal Judgement, it is dedicated to Saint Leonard - celebrated on the 6th of November - and to Saint Gratus. The bell tower has two bells: one was used to call the faithful, the other one was used to remind children about the start of school.

The first documents relative to this church are the deeds of the pastoral visits of 1413 and 1416, but it may obviously be older than this. There are no remaining traces of the fifteenth century building, given that the church was rebuilt entirely in 1846, to then be re-consecrated in 1847. The bell tower in the lower part should date back to the 15th-16th century, while the upper part is from 1710.

The church, with three naves, is divided into four bays, it houses one of the most beautiful organs in Valle d’Aosta and has a permanent museum of sacred art in which numerous objects of noteworthy historical-artistic value are kept:
- a Madonna from the late thirteenth century (similar to that of Valsavarenche, Introd and Arvier)
- a Madonna from the early years of the 14th century (on a model of the famous Black Madonna of the Shrine of Oropa)
- a Crucifix from the early fifteenth century (inspired by the triumphal one from the Cathedral of Aosta)
- a silver cross from the early 15th century
- two miniature statues showing the Magdalen and Saint John the Evangelist, one of the most beautiful and graceful examples of Flemish art created in Malines between the 15th and 16th century and exported to all over Europe.

The primitive church of the village of Derby most likely dates back to the 11th / 12th century, while the belltower is said to date back to the 13th century. The current church has been erected in the 16th century and consecrated by Monsignor Ferragata, bishop of Aosta, on the 22nd of July 1567.

The church of Derby has a rectangular plan with a single nave, with pointed arches of the vault, cross vaults with tuff ribs, a semicircular apse on the outside and a polygonal apse on the inside with an umbrella vault with ribs. Of the previous church remain the perimeter walls and a small cross-shaped window, high up on the facade, which served to illuminate the trussed roof of the Romanesque building.
The high altar, in polychrome marble, dates back to the 17th century. Above it, statues of St Hilary and St Blaise (16th century). A large wooden crucifix from the 16th century overlooks the choir.
The stone baptismal font from 1688, to the left of the entrance, bears the coat of arms of the Savoy family.
In 1861 the current organ (G. Franzetti, with mechanical traction and broken registers) was installed.

Inside, some liturgical objects are kept in a display case, including a 15th-century silver foil reliquary.

On January 23rd, 2012 Carlo Plassier left through a testamentary legacy his house, including furniture and works of art, at the La Salle Municipality, on condition that it would have been open to the public in the future.

The collection is the result of a sixty-years-old tableaumanie : “Carletto” bought in auctions, flea markets or by junk dealers and let every painting scrupulously restored. Moreover he became friendly with different artists of the Seventies and Eighties, famous as well as totally unknown, who he invited in his hotel and whom he offered the stay in exchange for pictures painted on place.