The Arnad Castle is one of the oldest fortified complexes in the Aosta Valley and is located on a very steep natural promontory that dominates the medieval village of Ville, with its strongholds, and the suggestive Echallod bridge that controls the Via Francigena - the road that connects Rome to Canterbury, used since Roman times - and the path that crossed the Machaby valley between the central valley and that of Gressoney. Its origins date back to 1100 when it belonged to the lords of Bard and the first documentary attestation of the castle dates back to 1207, in a bull of Pope Innocent III, which mentions its chapel dedicated to Mary Magdalene and Archangel Michael. The sacred building is then recalled on 13 September 1227 in a document that puts it under the protection of Count Thomas of Savoy.
Assigned by the Savoy in 1214 to Guillaume de Bard, in 1239 its half was sold to Ruffin de Arnado, while the other half remained the property of Guillaume's heirs, the lords of Pont-Saint-Martin, who subsequently ceded it to the de Arnado who in 1289 had full control. In 1293, on the death of Antoine de Arnado, the castle was bequeathed to Arduçon de Vallaise.
From this moment the long season began which saw the fortunes of the castle shared with those of the Vallaise family, one of the greatest of the ancient Valdotain nobility, with important alliances in the neighboring regions, in Vaud, in Genevois, in Fribourg, in Savoy and in Piedmont, men of arms who for centuries represented a valid support to all the military campaigns of the Savoy dynasty, participating in the main events that marked the historical events of the County and of the Duchy of Savoy first and of the Kingdom of Sardinia then, so much so that three members of the Vallaise family they were awarded the Supreme Order of the Santissima Annunziata which made them cousins of the sovereign.
Furthermore, since the Middle Ages, the Vallaises boasted the investiture directly by the Emperor as knights of the Holy Roman Empire and in all probability took part in the Crusades, as evidenced by their coat of arms, so much so that it is said that the three red bands represent precisely the three participations in the expeditions to the East, while the patent red cross clearly recalls that of the Templar Order.
The stages of construction
But before becoming faithful companions in arms of the Savoy, the Vallaise were their adversaries and in 1326 the castle of Arnad was besieged - and probably damaged - by the troops of Count Edouard.
After the siege and also in consideration of the prestige of the family, which in the meantime became an ally of the Savoy, between 1347 and 1348 the works to expand the castle began with the construction of the block overlooking the central valley, probably concluded in 1351, when Count Amedée VI, known as the "Comte Vert", was a seventeen-year-old guest at the castle: it is plausible that for the occasion they were painted in the large hall the coat of arms of the Savoy and that of the Vallaise. The conditions were also established at that meeting for the participation of the knights of Vallaise in the following spring's expedition to Switzerland against the Valaisans which led to the siege in November 1352 and the conquest of the city of Sion.
The expansion works of the Arnad castle were carried out introducing for the first time a relevant technical innovation in the Aosta Valley, such as the construction of a tower specially designed to house the latrines, certainly inspired by the Tour des latrines of the Palais des Papes in Avignon, built between 1335 and 1342, the largest shipyard of its time. It is therefore possible to suppose that a representative of the Vallaise family visited Avignon and the papal court in those years, probably taking part in a delegation of the Count of Savoy, such as that of 1343 led by Jacques prince of Acaja, so much so that this would explain the presence of the Acaja coat of arms in the romanesque church of Arnad, or that of 1349 led by Aymon de Challant, lord of Fénis and Aymavilles, brother of Ebal, builder of the castle of Ussel in Chatillon.
The last interventions to improve the Arnad castle date back to the final years of 1300, as evidenced by an agreement dated 17 April 1392. among the members of the Vallaise family and recently confirmed by scientific analyzes carried out on the remains of three beams of the monobloc roof, dated 1395, so much so that the hypothesis of raising the large building with the construction of a new roof is plausible.
Subsequently there is no more news regarding the use of the castle, inhabited by the Vallaise certainly in the fifteenth century and then gradually abandoned with the transfer of the family to the more comfortable fortified houses at the bottom of the valley.
The abandonment occurred in an unspecified period, however, allowed the Arnad castle to retain its original romanesque characteristics, not contaminated by subsequent interventions, so much so that today the complex constitutes, together with the Ussel castle, a rare historical and architectural example.
For some years the Arnad manor has been the subject of a recovery and enhancement project that has already brought to light numerous elements of considerable interest, also considering that it is the only castle in the Aosta Valley that has never been the subject of studies in-depth. In the next few months, archaeological excavations will be carried out in the oldest part, that of the primitive donjon, since the first essays have already highlighted how the keep is of a rare rectangular and not square plan as for most of the Aosta Valley towers.
