Heritage: Nus

The structure brought to light in Lignan is commonly regarded as a fortified village from the Bronze age.

Situated on a rocky hill, at an altitude of 1,546 meters overhanging the Saint-Barthélemy valley, it is a typical example of a naturally fortified place chosen as a settlement in the pre-Roman age.
The entire elliptical area, approximately 60 meters long, was used for the construction of dry masonry structures. A continuous perimeter wall follows the edge of the overhang.

The site can be reached in about 10 minutes on foot with a marked path along the Regional Road 36 which climbs from Nus to Saint-Barthélémy, the visit is free.

The castle stands above Nus, near the hamlet of Plane, on a rocky projection, which dominates the entrance to the valley of Saint-Barthélemy.
According to available documentation, the building can be traced at least as far back as the end of the 13th century, although the quadrangular turret, which collapsed at the start of the 20th century, and which stood in the eastern sector of the castle, can be compared to the towers erected in the valley during the 11th and 12th centuries. The final layout of the castle, which was modified on several occasions during the 14th and 15the centuries, was the product of a radical reconstruction campaign which took place around 1595, the date inscribed on the architrave at the entrance to the courtyard.

Situated in the centre of Nus, it was built by the lords of Nus in the 12th-13th century. Its owners abandoned it after a fire, preferring the castle on the hill (Nus Castle).
The castle gets its name from the legend which claims that Pontius Pilate stopped there on his way to exile in Gaul.
Today the ruins that survived the fire have been restored and are open to visitors: a ladder takes visitors up to the upper circle of the towers.

This small church dates back to the XII century, although the first historic mention is in the XV century, however it does not elaborate on the structure of the building.
Various rebuilding work was mentioned during the centuries that followed, including the extension and interior decoration of the church which currently offers some interesting elements, such as the main altar and two, sculptured side altars in gilded and painted wood, dating from the XVII century.
Worth noting, the characteristic and now rare atrium at the entrance, known in the Valdostane churches as the “porche de mariage”, used for a precise liturgical function, as the term explains: under it, the preliminary rite of marriage was celebrated; it was also used to teach the catechism.
The lunette above the porch depicts St. Peter and St. Bartholomew.

The first confirmation regarding the parish church of St. Ilario dates back to the 26th February 1153. During the archaeological digs in 1990 traces were found under the choir of an age-old building dating back to the XII century with a three nave layout terminating in a large, central apse and two absidioles to the sides, all of which are semi-cylindrical. The ancient, Romanesque walls are still visible in the crypt located under the choir. Excavations result from restoration work probably dating back to the XV century. The current church was built between 1886 and 1887 and consecrated on the 12th April 1888.

The building has a single nave with a Latin cross plan, ribbed vaults and a dome over the presbytery.
The main altar and St. Joseph’s altar are the work of the sculptor Guala, with internal frescoes by the Artari painters. A marble floor was replaced by a wooden one during the XX century and the painter Bartoli painted the choir, the baptismal font hollow and the walls of the presbytery.

An interesting crucifix of Christ from the XIV century is located to the left of the choir.
The Carrying of the Cross is interesting and the canvas representing the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and other saints, dating from the XVIII-XIX centuries. The bell-tower is among those built following a widespread, fifteenth century model, with examples in Etroubles, Gignod, Fénis, Chevrot, Montjovet, Saint-Germain, Moron and Brusson.

Situated 2,656 metres above sea level, at the foot of the Becca del Merlo, Cuney is Europe’s highest shrine.

Before it was built, the site was often visited due to the presence of a blessed source: the inhabitants of Saint-Barthélemy and Nus used to go there to pray during periods of serious drought. According to legend, certain shepherds, having found a statue of the Madonna in the meadows of Cuney, brought it to Lignan to put it back into the church, but the statue miraculously returned to Cunéy, thus manifesting its will: a site of worship was to be built on that site.

In 1656, a decision was made to build a chapel there and it was consecrated on the 26th of July 1659 and dedicated to the Madonna delle Nevi. The current building, which was rebuilt in 1861, is rectangular in shape with a decorated cross vault and semi-circular apse. Above the altar there is a painting, dating back to 1825 by the painter Curta from Valle d’Aosta, it shows the Virgin with Child and the saints Ilario, Bernard, Bartholemew and Eusebius. The walls are covered with votive offerings of various kinds, among which there are also some interesting paintings from the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries. The statue of the Virgin with Child is also noteworthy, it may be dated between the 16th and 17th century, perhaps contemporary with the building of the primitive shrine.

The patron’s feast day is the 5th of August and after mass, a procession accompanies the processional cross to the nearby source, where it is immersed three times.

The Astronomical Observatory of the Aosta Valley (OAVdA) and the Planetarium of Lignan are located in Lignan, a mountain village at an altitude of over 1600 a.s.l. in the Saint-Barthélemy valley, about 16 km along the road from the Municipality of Nus.

Opened in 2003, the OAVdA is the only regional astronomical observatory in Italy to have reached a multi-year agreement for research, teaching and educational activities with the INAF, the Italian National Astrophysics Institute. Thanks to the excellent quality of the scientific work carried out, OAVdA researchers are associates of the INAF.

The instruments and resources of the Observatory are among the most impressive in Europe: the Heliophysics Laboratory for observing the sun group with no risk to the eyesight, the Teaching Balcony, with seven 250 mm telescopes in Cassegrain configuration and the Star Theatre for observing the sky with the naked eye, using special laser pointers. The Planetarium takes visitors on a virtual journey through the cosmos, observing planets, constellations, nebulae and galaxies, using computer graphics to discover the most interested physical phenomenon connected with them, thanks to projections created entirely by the staff. Particular attention is also paid to astronomy enthusiasts, who can set up their own instruments in twelve nine-square-metre observation areas, each equipped with power columns for electricity and red LED lighting.

Scientific research
The Observatory works together with other scientific bodies at national and international level, and plays an active part in a number of important research projects:

• Asteroids Project and Corona Project : studying heavenly bodies close to Earth.
• Active Galactic Nuclei Project: monitoring particular galaxies billions of light years away.
• Extrasolar Planets Project: aimed at finding planets in orbit around the other stars in the Milky Way.
• Antarctica Project: dealing with the installation and management of a robotic telescope for infra-red observations.

Significant results obtained at the Observatory include the following: the discovery of a main-belt asteroid, officially christened “Vallée d’Aoste”; participation in the discovery of the two exoplanets of the star XO-2S; the identification of over a hundred variable stars; the observation of an anomalous increase in the emission of energy from the nucleus of the galaxies BL Lacertae and CTA102, phenomena that lasted just a few hours and that during the nights concerned were recorded only at Saint-Barthélemy and at no other astronomical observatory in the world.

Teaching and education: visits.
Alongside research, the astrophysicists devote at least 30% of their time to activities aimed at transmitting their knowledge to schools and to the public.
The initiatives are held exclusively in Italian

• Show at the Planetarium (lasting 1 hour).
  Includes a virtual journey through the cosmos entitled “On the wings of Pegasus”, aimed at families and anyone interested in the sky and in space, dedicated to the sky visible in autumn.

• Night-time guided visit to the Astronomical Observatory (lasting 1.5 hours).
  Includes guided observation of the sky with the naked eye on the Teaching Balcony (depending on the weather conditions).

In the summer of 2023, the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley and the Planetarium of Lignan celebrated 20 years of activity.