A bishop had it built: Rodolphe Grossi, who was also a counsellor to Peter II of Savoy, raised it between 1230 and 1245 on a rocky peak above La Salle. The task was plain: to watch the road coming down from the Little St Bernard and close it to whoever came along it.
What to see
Today it is a ruin, and it still commands the village and the whole Valdigne from the Château locality. The first mention comes in the feudal homage of 1248, where it is described as a tower with adjacent buildings: the phrase says exactly what it was, a guard post with just enough to live in. To the north of the complex, in 1269, the castle chapel was built; in 1824 it was turned into a room.
Visiting
The castle is privately owned and cannot be visited: you look at it from below, which is the right way, because it is from the valley floor that the choice of that peak makes sense. It long belonged to the Grossi family, who took from it the name Grossi du Châtelard.
Our editors' tip
Do not scramble up: there is nothing to see close to and the structure is unsafe. Better to look for its outline as you drive up towards Morgex, when the afternoon light lifts the crag off the back of the valley.
