In Val d'Aosta, the 14th Century Castello di Fénis of the Challant dynasty.

Il Castello di Fenis is an authentic medieval

castle from the 14th century. Behind Estela is

the outside wall with battlements every 2 or 3

 meters along the entire length of the wall. This

outside wall was completely rebuilt during the

1930's.

By the beginning of the 11th Century, the House

of Savoy has already become the authority of

Vald'Aosta. 

The "Barbican" is the 

three-windowed overlooking the

"porticus"  of the outside gate.

 

This expansion of the rule of the House of Savoy in Aosta required allegiances, and the Challant family became their strategic ally as early as the 13th Century.

 

The Challant family has a series of castles

throughout the Val d'Aosta.

Il Castello di Fénis faithfully

maintains the authentic character

of the 14th Century.

The first generations of the

Challant established a simple

fortification in Fénis in the 13th

Century. The original gateway

from the outer wall to the inner

ward would have had an

entrance similar to this one,

with a portcullis on one (or

possibly both ends).

The most important period of construction of

the Castello di Fénis as we know it today was

from 1320 to 1420.

 

Aymon de Challant and his son

Boniface I de Challant were the

the leaders of the construction

of the period during the 14th

and 15th Centuries.

Il Castello di Fénis has an outside

wall and a series of fortified

 buildings inside the walls.

Behind Estela is the actual

entrance, not the original.

The layout of Il Castello di Fénis

took the form of a pentagon. The

original entrance past the outer

wall was off to Estela's right

hand, behind the old tree.

Il Castello di Fenís stayed in the

hands of the Challant family

until the beginning of the 18th

Century. Here in this photo we

can appreciate that the outside

wall when rebuilt during the

decade before World War II did

not include the original

walkways behind the battlements

Internal courtyard of Castello di

Fénis with its central stairway

featuring Saint George defeating

the dragon.

The battlements at the top of the

"keep" are flanked at the corners

as you can see in this picture by

round dovecote torrents, to

 defend at close range against

an assault on the battlements.

 

This 3D scale model in the one of the halls of

Il Castello gives us a easy-to-understand

representation of the different structures within

the walls of the castle

 

The layout of Castello di Fénis

Large fireplace warmed up the Castle hall.

As you can see here, the walls were not usually

painted, but typically decorated with tapestries.

The fireplace not only provided

warmth to this hall, but a space

for heating up the food that

was prepared in another part

of the keep.

The tour guide offered us a detailed

understanding of furniture and of comforts and

 discomforts oflife for the Challant family living

at Castello Fénis.

Stools were typically made with

3 legs and not 4 legs in the mid

14th Century.

 

The Castello di Fenis has made great efforts to

over the last 120 years to search for and bring

back as much as the original pieces of furniture

of the 14th and 15th Centuries.

 

Beside the main fireplace there

was always a "salt box". Salt

was an expensive commodity

during the Medieval period. 

 

Il Castello di Fenis has a fine collection of "salt

boxes", with there "user-friendly" handle. Maybe

the complete "salt box" was removed out of the

kitchen and taken to the market for refilling.

My sister, Anne, lives in New Hampshire, where

in the surrounding areas there are several old

"salt box" houses. Looking at these boxes, and

remembering those houses, I can see the

 similarity: the front side is a 2 story higher

structure will the back, only one story.

The chests were part of a young woman's

 patrimony. They were given to them by their

parents, and were part of the bridal negotiation.

Chests were the most popular form of furniture

in a Castle such as Fénis during the 14th century

 as they provided for quick "packing" when

needed. Mobility was a key factor of life for

 noble families during the 14th Century.

This chest is undoubtedly from the Gothic period:

please notice the rich carving.

The corbelled loophole allowed

the comfortable positioning of

the crossbow in the embrasure

 so as to defend Castello

Fénis against attackers.

The wider width at the bottom

allowed for the discharge of

heavier materials onto the

attackers, such as rocks.

Over time, windows at Fénis became wider and

let light more light come in. Apparently there

were no curtains in use. So this window had

three sets of inside wooden shades to keep

out light or to protect the inhabitants.

Over the fireplace in this hall, we see the first

alfresco paintings, featuring the Challant

coat-of-arms

In this picture and the next, we

can compare the first type of

windows used, which were

smaller and more gothic in

style.

During the term of Boniface

Challant, windows of the castle

became wider, which reflect

that the late 14th century and the

beginning of the 15th century,

were times of peace and

prosperity in Val d'Aosta.

In the same room of Castello Fénis, we see the

older Gothic style window on the left and the

more Renaissance-style window on the right

 

I took this picture form the 2nd

floor inside banister-balconies of

Castello Fénis loggiati,

overlooking the central 

courtyard where the

Challant family spent most of

their day.

The inner courtyard of the keep was richly

decorated, probably not only to please the family

but to impress visiting nobles and merchants.

A side view of the central

staircase lets us appreciate the

several optical tricks the architect

used in building the staircase and

giving it a sense of greater size

and depth.

Alfresco paintings depict the lives of

philosophers as well as personalities that

Bonifacio Challant met during his life as a

crusader against the Saracens

in the early 15th century. 

Each character here is shown with a scroll,

written in old French, with "wise suggestions" on

how a "wise" ruler, should rule.

A canopy bed with "baldachin-style" posts was

probably from the 16th century.

At the top of the mantle piece of the fireplace we

find the coat of arms of the Challant family with

its diagonal band.

A closer view of the coat-of-arms of the Challant

family on the mantle piece of the fireplace

 

 

Here is a view of balustrade-balconies of the

loggiati overlooking the courtyard of Castello

Fénis, a perspective that gives us a better

understanding that the keep was built in pentagon

form.

Why is our blog "Road of Faith and Art",

 interested in castles? Voilá! Here is the chapel

of Castello Fénis.

Bonifacio I (Challant), in the 2nd decade of the

15th Century, commissioned Giacomo Jaquerio

to decorate the Chapel of Castello Fenis.

Giacomo Jaquerio's original project consisted of

a 12-sided twin level cylindrical-shape chapel

to be called "Paradise", with 23 panel paintings

 of the apostles, the saints and the Blessed Virgin.

However, once he saw the Castello Fenis, he

 realized that his project would have to be

applied with a different layout, and that the

wooden panels would have to be substituted

with alfreschi wall paintings. Above is the

left wall of the chapel with paintings of  the

Apostles Bartholomew  James, Phillip and

Simon on the top, while Saint Catherine of

Alexandria (with her telltale wheel) and

Saint Francis are in the center of the bottom

row.

 

Giacomo Jaquerio? Who was he? Born in Turin, he was an important painter in the early 15th Century, who did a great deal of his work on commission of the court of the Duchy of Savoy. But when Giorgio Vasari wrote his Life of the most excellent "Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors...", his name is not mentioned. Why? Maybe for a painter from Tuscany like Vasari, Turin wasn't part really an Italian city, nor Jaquerio an Italian, but a subject of the Duchy of Savoy, and therefore French.

 

The left wall of the chapel

 features the Blessed Virgin with

her mantle covering the Challant

family and there allies in French

Provence, not only the Savoy

dukes, but the Pope himself,

John XXII, one of the Avignon

Popes. Bonifacio stands out on

the right with his chrisom robe

while his wife is slightly up to

the left, his brother behind him

and his sisters all around. 

Saints Thomas, Matthew and Jude appear on

the top portion of the alfresco decoration the

left hand side of the chapel, on top of the

painting of Our Blessed Mother. It is quite

possible that Giacomo Jaquerio painted the

faces himself while leaving the larger spaces

to his helpers from his shop.

Saint Peter (with the "Keys of the Kingdom")

and Saint Paul on the right  side of the chapel.

At the very top of the side wall alfresco paintings

on the right side of the chapel are two medallions

depicting the Annunciation of Our Blessed Lady.

 

With this fuller view of the wall on the right side

of the chapel, from the top left we see the Apostles

Matthew, Andrew and John the Evangelist (with

the Chalice of the Last Supper in his hands).

After them, is Saint Peter and Saint Pau.

On the bottom row is Saint Anthony Abbott,

Saint George, Saint John the Baptist, the

Archangel Michael, and possible the last two

figures are Saint Nicholas and Saint William of

Aquitaine.

This close-up of the right hand

corner gives us a much better view

of a gallant-looking Saint George

(in the middle of the bottom row)

followed by a wild-looking John

the Baptist. 

These types of furnishings were at the Castello

Fénis only at the end of the 15th Century: the

traditional old chest becomes a chest of drawers

This splendid credenza was something Bonifacio's

grandson brought.

A view of the loggiati from the second level

A view of the loggiati from the courtyard

below.

This stairway offers us several

optical illusions, as not all

the steps are of the same

heights, so as to offer an

impression of further depth.

The loggiati offer us affreschi of the Saggi or

wise men.

 

Saint George kills the dragon and chivalrously

frees the dame in distress.

Saint Christopher carries the

child Jesus. Saint Christopher,

patron saint of pilgrims, would

have been a welcome sign for

pilgrims paying a visit to

Castello Fenis, while on their

way down the Via Francigena

to Rome

If you take a close look at

the tower, at a point at the

same height as the rain spout,

you may find a mask, an

apotropaic sculptured head,

of a "Homo Selvaticus" to

use the Roman term,

commonly used to

ward off the enemy, by

means of witchcraft.