For centuries this was a seat of power rather than a convent: from here the canons of Saint-Gilles administered parishes across the Aosta Valley and into Piedmont, and in 1113 the bishop of Aosta also handed them the hospice of the Little St Bernard, which they kept until 1466.
What to see
The complex, dedicated to Saint Giles, gathers buildings raised between the eleventh and the eighteenth centuries, above the town along the old Challand road with its cobbles. From the small terrace at the foot of the stairs you look up at a nineteenth-century column of non-local stone, the large three-light window that counts as a masterpiece of Valdostan Gothic, and a crown of corbels halfway up the bell tower. The portal is unusual even in the way its blocks are assembled, with carved columns and twisted motifs chasing each other across the greenish stone. The Challant chapel was built by Ibleto, who lies buried there by the terms of his will of 1405; the bell tower and the building beside it were rebuilt in 1512 by provost Carlo di Challant, the same man who had La Murasse built.
Visiting
The foundation goes back to about 985, when the marquises of Monferrato entrusted it to the Benedictines of Fruttuaria; in the twelfth century the Augustinian canons took over. The Challant grip on the institution became plain when Renato, in 1544, installed his illegitimate son Francesco as provost: that family hegemony lasted until 1648.
Our editors' tip
You walk up from the town, a short climb worth taking for the cobbles alone. Look at the three-light window from below before climbing the steps: that is the point it was designed from.
