Crenellated towers, double walls, patrol walks: Fénis is the Aosta Valley's "textbook" castle, the fourteenth-century residence of the Challant family built to display power more than to wage war. The pentagonal courtyard keeps the treasure: the semicircular stair and frescoes of the Giacomo Jaquerio school, with Saint George, the dragon and a procession of sages bearing scrolls.
Around it, meadows and apple trees: the alpine setting is half the enchantment.
Our tip: visits are guided only and groups leave at fixed times: on weekends arrive early or book. Pair it with Issogne, the "twin" bourgeois castle, to grasp two worlds in one afternoon.