This castle was never a home. The local lord came up only when danger arrived: it stands on a rock terrace sheer above the Dora Baltea, and within its walls two thousand men could be held, enough to keep the whole central valley under control. The rest of the year it was an empty shell.
What to see
Three rings of wall remain, enclosing an area of about ninety metres by seventy, and at the highest point the tower, the ruins of a building and a cistern. There was a chapel too. The main construction is of the thirteenth century, but the site was used long before: from up there you see whoever comes from either direction.
The best preserved part is the cylindrical keep, some sixteen metres high. The round tower reached the Aosta Valley in the previous century, and it was a choice of calculation: for the same internal area, the circle is the shape that offers the least perimeter to defend. Less wall, fewer men, less expense.
Visiting
You climb from Villeneuve by a steep path of about half an hour, with no ticket and no hours; proper shoes, and to be avoided in snow or rain because the rock turns slippery. An hour and a half up and down.
Our editors' tip
Look for the door of the keep: it is not at ground level, it is eight metres up, and there is no fixed stair. You went in by a ladder that was then pulled inside. It is the detail that explains better than any other what this place was really for.