Heritage: Fontainemore

In the olden days it was the place where the two roads leading to the Lys Valley met, on the right and left bank of the river of the same name. Guillemore and its ravine established the borders between the “Mandement de Vallaise” and the “Mandement di Issime and Gressoney”. The name of Guillemore has several variations: Guymour - Guimor - Guymor - Gueymor.
Considering the fact that it is a strategic place and highly significant from a morphological point of view, it is believed that a part of the toponym is fairly old.

The bridge stands next to the parish Church and was built in Medieval times around 1200. It crosses the Lys river with a single 22 metre long arch.

Fontainemore is proud to be one of the most important active emigration hubs (seasonal) tied to construction. From St. Joseph to St. Barbara, at times even at Christmas, the men of this community left to work as master builders in Savoy, in the Duchy of Aosta and in large cities like Turin, Marseilles, Lyon, Grenoble and even Paris.

The architecture of the houses in their home town commands respect. Traces of love for precise stone cutting and those high 4 or 5 story walls are spread across the more than one hundred farmhouses built on steep slopes, covered with chestnut trees.

Farettaz is one of the best preserved villages made up of various groups of houses joined by well-tended paths. The most interesting is undoubtedly the one where the chapel bell tower dedicated to St. Lawrence is erected. The site’s entrance is decorated by a beautiful fountain, once lined in stone. The basin is fed by a long canal dug in the rock.

Hugging each other, the houses create complex formations separated by covered passageways, terraces, gardens and alleyways that reveal ancient quality architecture whose bowels are permeated by human-engineered indoor and outdoor spaces, rich in the mountain living.
The village community oven has been restored and is still used for some events during which black rye flour bread is kneaded and baked.

An interesting note: an ethnographic mountain museum was opened in the village called “Pra dou Sas”, still in the municipality of Fontainemore. Thanks to its residents, this small town museum introduces the public to daily items displayed in traditional home settings.

Audio guide mp3

The area of Fontainemore is home to eleven chapels, build by the “macons” (builders) in each village as a symbol of autonomy in each district. The frescoed chapels are Madonna della Neve Chapel in the Niana district, the San Francesco di Sales Chapel in the Pillaz district, San Defendente Chapel in the Chuchal district and Balma oratory on the hill of the same name. The wealthiest and best preserved chapels are those in La Planaz and Kiry.

It was built in 1494 in the place of an old chapel and rebuilt in 1679, after the building was destroyed by a landslide. A Latin inscription which was sculpted in Gothic style characters on the stone of a window, which was once part of the Church and is now inserted into a wall in front of the curia, attributes the construction of the building to the master builder Antonio Goyet of Issime. In 1756, following a flood, the church had to be rebuilt again: the main wooden altar originates from this era.

Interesting details:
- the seventeenth century carved wooden portal, consisting of four panels representing the figures of Saint Gratus, Saint Jucundus, Saint Anthony and Saint Orso and six panels with leaves and flowers;
- the presbytery with a round apse dates back to the 15th century;
- the ribbed vault with stone ribbing covered in limestone and a rose window in the middle containing the coat of arms of the Vallaise family.

The mid mountain ecomuseum is in Pra dou Sas, close to the entrance to the Mont Mars Natural Reserve. It is a beautiful mid-mountain village, whose buildings are used partly as a living museum.
A two-storey stone house has a stable on the lower floor and on the upper floor the room with the fireplace for processing milk and another one in which the family resided.
The nearby wooden rascard encloses the area used in the past for threshing rye and the area for conserving produce. The cellar contained the room for seasoning cheese.
Part of the rascard holds a collection of equipment of carpenters and other traditional professions.
Particular importance is given to the builders’ equipment, a typical profession of this town, for which its inhabitants were famous even abroad, where they were called to work during the warm season.

How to arrive
From the village of Fontainemore, continue a few kilometres along the regional road for Gressoney, then take the bridge on the right and follow on the road which leads to the Mont Mars Nature Reserve. Once you’ve crossed the bridge over the Lys river, continue along the road that leads to Pillaz-Pian Coumarial, then leave the fork road for Pillaz on the left and continue to Pra dou Sas, where you will find directions for the ecomuseum.