Heritage: Saint-Pierre

This fairy-tale castle set on a crag above the village is really unique.

The famous four little lateral towers, which were added in the 19th century, give to Saint-Pierre’s castle, that ranks among the oldest manors in the region, a Disney-like appearance. The original structure might date back to the 12th century, because the brothers de castro Sancti Petri are mentioned as co-owners of a part of the castle in the well-known charter Charte de Franchise of 1191. Among the later owners we should remember Pietro Filiberto Roncas, who enlarged the castle in the 17th century and held there many receptions.

Since then, the castle underwent some refurbishments and had different owners. Now it belongs to Saint-Pierre’s municipality and it has housed the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences from 1985 until its closure, which was necessary to allow restoration works.

Thanks to these restoration works, the architectural structures were made safe, the wooden floors were consolidated and new technological systems and an elevator were installed. The restoration of the external facades and the internal rooms has allowed the reorganization of the museum and its reopening at the end of 2022.

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Evidence of the existence of the Sarriod noble family, linked politically, but not by blood, to the lords of Bard, goes back to the end of the 12th century. We are still not certain of the origins of the castle located in Saint-Pierre, in a flatland area a short distance from the state road.
The oldest building included the chapel and the central, square tower (donjon) surrounded by the castle walls, typical of Val d’Aosta castles of the 10-12th century.
In 1420, Jean Sarriod built a castle in the location of the tower already known as the “turris Sariodorum” since the 14th century, as a place of reception, by adding a series of wings to the existing donjon. This included the building of the spiral staircase in the tower (viret) and the addition of cross windows in cut stone, which are characteristic of fifteenth century Valdostan architecture. In 1478 Jean’s son, Antoine Sarriod de la Tour, transformed the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist, which is when the external frescoes of the Crucifix and Saint Christopher were painted and the small bell tower was built. On the ground floor of the north wing, there is a large wooden-ceilinged hall. On the first floor you find the so-called “hall of heads” which gets its name from the decorations on the wooden ceiling.
In the late 15th century, the boundary wall was given circular and semi-circular defence towers and the new entrance was opened on the eastern side with pointed arch portal and sculpted arch vault bearing the Sarriod coat of arms.
The change in level from room to room is evidence of a variety of works over the centuries. The west-facing wing was added in the 16th century, while the north tower dates back to the 17th century. A number of wall-painting fragments and a stucco fireplace date back to the 18th century.
The castle remained the property of the Sarriod de la Tour until 1923, then went to the Bensa family of Genoa. It has been property of the autonomous Region Aosta Valley since 1970.

The current church of Saint-Pierre was entirely built in 1871-72 on the ruins of the previous, medieval churches. The church has a rectangular plan and only one nave: during the first half of the twentieth century, brothers Alessandro and Auguste Artari decorated the façade and the vault, representing The Last Supper, the Evangelists and Saints of the Aosta Valley on the white marble main altar. The altar is overlooked by a beautiful canvas by Stornone from 1889 where Our Lord and Saint Peter are distinguished. The large frame is by the sculptor Comoletti.
The church hosts a nineteenth-century, walnut pulpit whose carved panels recall the life of Saint Peter. The belltower dates back to the thirteenth century: the tower is square shaped in plastered stone with loopholes from top to bottom and openings to one, two and even three bell lodgement chambers.

All the way to the refuge Mont Fallère, little wooden creatures such as: owls, hawks, hares, groundhogs, woodpeckers, capercaillies, foxes and eagles are hidden behind branches and stones. But between trees you may also find curious gnomes watching you.

Approaching the refuge, the sculptures become bigger: here is the grandfather indicating the right path to the shelter to his nephews while not too far away there is a couple of chamois and ibex, but also a villager who, caught by a sudden urge, hides behind a stone.

The open-air museum sculptures are made by using a special type of wood that will last long time in the open air.
The only exception is the Madonna that was inserted into a cave to withstand the high mountain weather.

While walking you will feel like being in a treasure hunt among wooden sculptures and the scents of the mountain.

Most of those works of art (about 100/120 sculptures) were carved by Siro Viérin .

The Regional Museum of Natural Science is named after its founder, Efisio Noussan.

The project of museography is based on the castle-museum combination and intends to enhance both the historical-architectural and the scientific-naturalistic assets, adopting an approach that is in line with the most modern museography and museological guidelines.

The double register for the visitor allows the visitor, in each room, to learn about the history of the castle, and also to find out about the historical elements still present, such as fireplaces, furnishings, decorations and coats of arms, and the fauna, flora and the natural environment of Valle d’Aosta.
The visit to the museum thus becomes a journey through the ecosystems of Valle d’Aosta, which can also be accessed thanks to the interactive stations where the visitor will find news, maps, curiosities, images on glaciers, the climate, geology. The rooms set up in the traditional way are supported by the rooms that host multimedia equipment intended to create innovative and emotional experiences.

The museum combines the institutional activities of conservation, exhibition of the finds, and circulation with the activity of scientific research, carried out in its operational headquarters in La Salle, with the help of modern biotechnologies in support of the conservation of biodiversity.

The museum also houses the Lyskamm marmot, considered the oldest mummified find in Italy.

The itinerary of the visit is organized in the 16 rooms of the castle located on the ground floor and on the two upper floors.

• 1-Hall of the Coats of Arms
  The first room is entirely devoted to the history of the Castle. A modern multimedia station allows you to retrace the reconstruction phases of the castle during the succession of families to illustrate the painted coats of arms of the room and to tell about the archaeological excavations carried out during the work regarding the recovery of the castle.

• 2-Hall of Differences: From the Vineyards to the North Pole
  Valle d’Aosta, despite its modest extension, is characterized by its high degree of biodiversity, proven by the many animal and plant species hosted within a radius of just a few kilometers. Going from the vineyards and olive trees of the lower valley to the glacial environments of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, is similar to taking a journey from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Pole and the ice of the Arctic. The succession of altitudinal planes illustrates the differences that characterize the mountain environment from the foot to the top of the mountain through films and multimedia supports. The route then enters the regional protected areas, parks and nature reserves, Natura 2000 sites, and Alpine botanical gardens.

• 3-Hall of Time: The Old Museum of Natural Science
  The walls and the vault found in the decorations, the wooden floor with two-tone squares and the wrought iron chandeliers, are the setting of the historical environment of the Museum of Natural Science. The history of the museum is told, from its establishment to the present day, in its historical and minimalist showcases.

• 4-Hall of Rocks: The Stones Tell Stories
  Valle d’Aosta allows for a geological journey through the secrets of the rocks of the Alps, from the granite of Mont Blanc to the gneiss of Gran Paradiso, from the soaring lines of the Matterhorn to the Dolomite formations of the Cime Bianche (White Peaks). Geology is the main theme told through rock samples, images of peaks, geological and soil maps and virtual interviews with a geologist accompanied by insights into the soils of Valle d’Aosta.

• 5-Hall of the Slopes: Adret and Ubac
  Each valley oriented from east to west, or vice versa, has a sunny south-facing side (adret) and a shady north-facing side (ubac). The exposure determines significant differences in temperature and climatic conditions, influencing crops, ecosystems, plant and animal species, and the mood of the inhabitants. The climatic and environmental differences between the southern and northern slopes are another aspect characterizing the mountain territories and, in particular, the Valle d’Aosta territory. There are numerous insights into the themes of rainfall and temperatures with a focus on climate change.

• 6-Hall of the Abbés Savants: The Eyes of Faith and Science
  The route of the visit continues in the two intermediate halls located between the ground floor and the first floor. The abbés savants, the scientist priests who animated the intellectual and scientific life of Valle d’Aosta between the 19th and 20th centuries dedicated themselves to study, research and circulation of information.

• 7-Noussan Hall
  This hall is dedicated to Efisio Noussan, a well-known entrepreneur from Valle d’Aosta, a passionate connoisseur of the culture and natural environment of Valle d’Aosta. Thanks to his tenacity, the Société de la Flore Valdôtaine resumed its activities and in 1985 the Regional Museum of Natural Science was established which today bears his name.

• 9 and 10-Halls of the Water: The Creative Force
  From glacier water to high-altitude springs, from alpine lakes to waterfalls, from peat bogs to marshes, from streams to ponds, Valle d’Aosta is entirely designed and traversed by the vital force of water, which shapes the mountain landscape bringing life and sometimes even destruction. Through dioramas and naturalistic reconstructions, it is possible to closely observe the environments that are strictly linked to the presence of water and characterized by delicate balances. The adjacent room offers a sound and visual experience, with the sounds of waterfalls, rain, streams, and the dripping of glacial melt water.

• 11-The Hall of the Forest: The Secret Life
  A short night walk through a mountain forest, accompanied by the cries of birds and mammals, the rustle of the wind, mysterious shadows, and primordial sounds, arouses sensations and allows the visitor to discover the different types of trees, their inhabitants, the woods and their distribution on the territory. An environment reproduced in full size.

• 12-Hall of Vertigo: The Inhabitants of the Void
  The abstract reproduction of the rocky environments of Valle d’Aosta illustrates the adaptation of the various animal and plant species to vertical life, which also includes man, who “conquers” the void with road works, terraces and suspended villages. Reproductions of animals and plants via 3D printing are exhibited in the display cases.

• 13 and 14-Prairie Halls: The Four Seasons
  Like in a virtual journey towards higher altitudes, you reach the prairies where you can observe the changes imposed by the passage of time, which makes flowers sprout and wither, retains and erases the traces of animals, calls and drives away the herds, flocks and shepherds. Green in summer and white in winter, the prairie marks the rituality of the Alpine seasons.

• 15-The Hall of the Cold: Living Ice
  For at least two centuries the glaciers have been a tourist attraction of Valle d’Aosta but they have also been a workshop of scientific discoveries and a climbing gym, landscape modeling agents, important environmental indicators and an irreplaceable reserve of water. The glacier is “living” matter that glides downstream like a frozen stream. In addition to a video interview on the birth of mountaineering, the stations provide information on glaciers and the effects of climate change.

• 16-Hall of Emotions
  The experience of visiting the museum ends with a journey through Valle d’Aosta, with spectacular panoramas and engaging images with the aim of arousing interest and curiosity in the visitor so that he/she can discover, with greater awareness, the nature of Valle d’Aosta in the area itself.