Heritage: Arnad

The Echallod Bridge is a stone pedestrian bridge, one of the most picturesque in the Aosta Valley region.

Restored several times over the centuries, it connects the hamlets of upper and lower Echallod to the other villages of the municipality of Arnad, located on the left bank of the Dora Baltea river.

The symmetrical humpback structure rests on three arches supported by sturdy buttresses. On the right shoulder there is a small chapel to protect travellers.
You cross this bridge when you walk along the Cammino Balteo hiking itinerary which here overlaps the route of the Via Francigena.

The village includes the Ohta house-fort, an interesting manor compound built around a significantly large Late Medieval tower with walls over two metres thick and an entrance about 8 metres off the ground. In the fourteenth century, the village was most probably enclosed by a curtain wall or by the connecting surrounding houses. In fact, the men of Arnad were granted concessions in 1321 by Amedeo di Vallaise including the lord’s right to order improvements to the village walls. In addition to some houses that belonged to local lords, which still present “noble” traits, there are many homes owned by the aristocracy, notaries and chamberlains which preserve valuable architectural details such as ample parlours, large fireplaces and graceful “viret or tornette”.

Situated in a position dominating the village, on the side of the Machaby valley, the castle is at present in ruins.
It was probably built by the noble De Arnado family in the 13th century.
In the 14th century it was the residence of the Valleise family, who invited Amadeus VI of Savoy to lunch in 1351.

Built by the Vallaise family in the 17th century, the castle has 3 storeys flanked by 2 four-sided towers.
The internal façade opens onto the courtyard, wit a double arcade of light stone columns.

Interesting frescoes of ten fiefdoms owned by the Vallaise family can be admired in the Hall of Honour.
The park holds a hexagonal chapel dedicated to Saint Joseph, Saint Anthony and the Virgin Mary, and with a Baroque polychrome marble altar.

In past times the castle was linked by a covered gallery to the “Castello Inferiore della Costa”, now in ruins.

Acquired in 2010 from the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, the castle actually undergoes restoration works in order to be opened to the public.

In the hamlet of Ville stands a complex of buildings, currently in a state of decay and used as a rural dwelling, consisting of a fortified house and a tower, also known as Tor de l’Ohta. The square plan tower is missing its upper section and has walls measuring 2 metres in thickness.
The original door is 8 metres above the ground and is supported by an architrave with a blind arch above it.
You can see several Gothic windows, some decorated with coats of arms and frames.

The tower is mentioned in a document from 1295 as belonging to Pietro of Vallaise.
The structure presents analogies with the primitive towers of Planta in Gressan, Archet in Morgex and Tour d’Héréraz in Perloz.

The Church of San Martino is located in the chief town of Arnad-Le-Vieux. The current building has a trapezoidal layout, with three naves that preserve a roof made of Gothic, low pointed cross vaults. The pillars support large arches that rest on capitals. The facade has a central tuff portal from the 15th century, decorated with a keel-shaped arch, representing two intertwined tree trunks with an overhead rose window. There are slender, single mullioned windows. The bell-tower, with a square shape, has a high, pyramid-shaped spire. The ceiling on the left nave is decorated with Late Gothic frescoes. The subjects represented include “St. George fighting a dragon”, the “Feast of Herod”, a “Crucifixion” and the “Beheading of John the Baptist”.

Built in 1672 in the hamlet of Bonavesse, a village situated in a hilly area.
The chapel is shaped like a rectangular hall with a presbytery, covered by barrel vaults with decorated groins. The facade has a central doorway with two windows alongside it and is surmounted by a small rectangular shaped opening. The stone belfry with a single lancet window is not situated in the middle of the roof, but on the left hand pitch. This building underwent an initial restoration intervention in 1780, as is evident from the pastoral visit of 1786. In 1993, after a period of abandonment during which the conditions worsened extensively, the exterior and the interiors were repainted.
Mass is celebrated on the second day of the rogations.

The chapel is located in the hamlet of Clos de Barme. The date of its foundation is unknown. It was restored for the first time in 1653 and was rebuilt more recently at the summit of this village. The patron saint’s feast day is celebrated on the 16th of August.

Situated on the Echallogne “pass” in the mountains. It was built in 1693. It was destroyed by the earthquake of 1968 and was restored in 1981.
Sant’Anna is celebrated on the 26th of July.

Situated in the hamlet of Ville, in the old town of Arnad. At a first glance the depiction of the saint frescoed on the facade stands out. The entrance is protected by the large projection from the roof, the beam of which has the date 1785 inscribed on it. On the south-western edge there is a small bell tower with a square shaped base, with four single lancet windows in the bell cell and an octagonal spire with four pinnacles. From all the villages people would come down to ask for the protection of the saint for animals and the tradition is still maintained today with a beautiful celebration organised by two priors, chosen year after year, for the 17th of January, the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great.

The shrine is located at a height of 696 metres, in the Machaby valley and not far from the centre of Arnad, in a splendid position among the chestnut forests.
The building, which originates from the fourteenth century, was rebuilt entirely in 1687.
As well as numerous votive offerings, it also contains a seventeenth-century statue of the Virgin Mary, defined by the scholar Bruno Orlandoni as “one of the best masterpieces of Baroque sculpture in Valle d’Aosta”.

How to get there
Simple walk of about one hour through the woods, starting from Arnad’s village centre.

The visit
Celebration of the Holy Mass in the end of the pilgrimage on August 5th, the day of Madonna of the Snow, whom the shrine is dedicated to.

On other days, visits only on reservation, by contacting the parish.

A short distance from Arnad Castle, close to the Machaby sanctuary, there is a cave where an evil witch and a devil with seven heads kept their victims destined to the witches’ sabbath. The last victim, a young girl taken by surprise by the witch while she was cutting the grass around the church, found herself in the cave with other poor souls filled with so much fright that they were unable to think or react. Calmly the young girl told them to implore Our Lady of Machaby, uniting them in prayer. In answer to their prayers, the Madonna delle Nevi came to the prisoners and indicated to them, at the bottom of the cave, a small opening where light was penetrating. The rocks easily gave way and the prisoners, having removed some stones, were miraculously saved.

The parish museum preserves some interesting sacred objects, including a crucifix from the second half of the thirteenth century and two German bas-reliefs representing St. Rocco and St. Sebastian, attributed to the school of the sculptor Michael Parth (second half of the sixteenth century).