Heritage: Torgnon

After going through a stretch of the old road leading to Valais, you will reach a green valley where, at 2084 meters, there are the enchanting ruins of the hospice of Chavacour, which is supposed to have been the point where merchants on their way to Switzerland via the Col Collon and Arolla glacier received hospitality and food.

The ruins form a square structure with its front facing North and cover an area of 480 m2. Its walls are not dry-stone built, as those of the surrounding mountain pastures, but using stones thoroughly cemented with mortar and sand.

It seems that the building was rather impressive, so much that one wonders if it was a hospice that welcomed merchants, travelers and pilgrims or rather a fortress designed to control and defend the territory. From a documentary point of view, there is little information about it, and the phrase “hospice de Chavacour” itself is in use only after 1800.

According to tradition, Col Collon was a crucial pass for people carrying wine, wheat and other products from Italy to Switzerland, such as for shepherds from Aosta Valley bringing their animals to the fair in Evolène and, in the opposite direction, to lead the cows from Val d’Hérens to the yearly held fair in Valpelline. This pass had also a strategic role for the Challant and Cly families, who had possessions and various interests in Val d’Anniviers and in Sion, territories bordering the Valtournenche, while for the counts of Savoy, who took possession of Cly feud in 1367, this pass had a secondary function, since their transalpine properties were more easily accessible from Little and Great Saint Bernard passes.

It is certain that at the end of 1700 the hospice of Chavacour was in ruins: canon Frutaz suggests that some of its stones were reused in the construction of the nearby mountain pasture Château, dating from 1780.

How to get there
From the houses in Etirol, follow the beautiful trail entering the valley and go on until crossing the river; continue up on the private road n. 1 until you leave it on the left to take the path that allows you to reach the ruins of the Hospice de Chavacour.

Text and drawings freely taken from “Il labirinto della memoria”
By the Scientific Committee of the Musée Petit-Monde

PARISH CHURCH (Side door half moon) - the year of construction is unknown. It reappeared in 1975 during renovations on the plaster and was restored by the Piedmont painter Pirlato.
HOTEL PANORAMIQUE - in the hamlet of Mongnod m.1,500. Year of construction 1985. Authors R. Anselmi and A. Carlon.

The oldest historic news dates back to 1413, however the current construction in Neogothic style dates back to 1868. The facade presents the most recent decorations inside tondos and mullioned windows. They depict: the Virgin with Child, with two angels in the pointed arched hollows and Jesus Christ in the middle. The side facade represents Pope John. The wooden doorway is overlooked by spires. The bell-tower to the right is in Romanesque style, however it was built in 1773, with lowered arch access and a bell chamber on two floors and mullioned windows. The left side includes a sundial. Inside, there are three naves marked by columns and furnished in Neogothic style, except the marble altar, which once had wooden panels.
The walls are decorated with paintings by G. Stornone from Ivrea, on tondos and canvas. The stained glass, which comes from Abbot Pron’s factory (Pont d’Ane in France) on the southern wall date back to the time of construction, while the stained glass on the organ is more recent.
The central nave of the church hosts a large, sixteenth-century triumphant crucifix, which is definitely one of the most impressive works on show in the region: hugely dramatic, it appears to come from a German workshop, since the sculpture reflects the result of expression sought by the greatest German painters of the early sixteenth-century, such as Grünewald.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, with an octagonal layout in Neo-Gothic style, is linked to the parish church. The segmented vault is decorated with pictures from between 1863 and 1868 which depict four stories of the life of the Virgin Mary interspersed with tondos of saints and a small, reniform window: The walls depict the Weeping Mother, the Adoration of the Wise Men and Jesus in the garden of Getseman.

Berzin
Dedicated to St. James and built in the XV century by the notary Aymonod. The choir loft dates from 1868 and perhaps on that occasion the facade was modified which no longer hosts the alcove where the statue of St. James was supposedly held. Inside, there is an eighteenth-century altar in gilded wood, statues of which are now displayed in the Parish Museum.

Champagnod
Dedicated to St. Fabian and Sebastian and dated to before 1660, the date of its first restoration. Having fallen to almost ruin, it was rebuilt by the parish priest Borine who blessed it on the 23.11.1734. Inside, the chapel presents decorative vaults and an eighteenth-century, painted and gilded altar which was once decorated with wooden statues that have since unfortunately disappeared following a robbery in 1981.

Chaté
Thanks to a donation from Rosalia Chatrian in 1868, the chapel was built between that year and 1871. It is named after St. Joseph. The name of the donor is also recalled on the highest beam on the ceiling.

Chatelard
Dedicated to St. Gratus and already existed during the second half of the XVII century. It was rebuilt in 1719 by the parish priest Borine at the expense of the municipality.

Chatrian
Founded in 1773 following a donation left in Marie Anne Chept’s will. It was erected in 1785, but was only open to followers in 1805. In 1870 it fell in poor state and was then renovated and blessed again in 1891. It is dedicated to Our Lady of Carmelo.

Fossemagne
It was built in the Désert district of Vallone di Chavacour in 1764 by the notary Fronçois Jérome Frutaz and blessed in 1774. It was renovated in 1889 (date on the facade in front of the initials V.G.). It is dedicated to Our Lady of Oropa.

Gilliarey
It is located on a daring, rocky headland that overlooks the valley bed at Buisson level. It was founded in 1866 and blessed on the 21.7.1867 by Can. Luigi Gorret, whose family were landowners in the Alps since the XVI century. The area surrounding the chapel is covered in stone slabs placed at a regular distance that support certain suggestions, even if guessed, relating to the use of these stones as prehistoric menhir to form a sundial on the land.

Mazod
Dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes whose construction dates back to 1873 under the parish of Diemoz. Giacomo Antonio Chatrian originally from Torgnon, even as early as 1840, was left the sum of 2000 Lire by J.L. Engaz in his will for the building, however his legacy was used for the oratory and the remainder used for a school for girls.

Nozon
Dedicated to the Visitation, was built in 1853 (the date is engraved on the beam over the door) by the parish priest Perruchon, even if news of legacies for its construction date back as early as 1735.

Ponty
Dedicated to Our Lady Of Pity, was built between 1720 and 1730 in a position lying against the overhanging rocky wall. The sacristy, which slightly projects towards the road, has a strange opening with a small, wooden channel that tilts and which was used to allow followers to give their offerings, grain in this case.

Saint-Évence
Built in a rather panoramic position, about half an hours walk from Colle di San Pantaleone, it existed as early as the XIII century and formed part of Sant’Orso church. Still today this recently rebuilt chapel is the destination of pilgrims who call upon the spring rain.

Colle San Pantaleone chapel
It dates back to the years 1845-1847, however there is mention of an oratory preceding the chapel that was probably built after the plague of 1630. It is located just under the Colle, on the slope of the Municipality of Verrayes. The facade, which is now very disfigured by graffiti, depicts decorative paintings between panels by the painter Avondo.

Triatel
Dedicated to St. Theodule and St. Rocco, dating from the sixteenth-seventeenth century. Children who had died before baptism were traditionally brought here, in the hope they would show some sign of life to be baptised.

Valleil
The construction of the chapel of St. Nicholas and Our Lady of the Snow dates back to 1745-1749.

Vesan Dessous
Dedicated to Our Lady of Grace, dating back to 1852 (beam dated 1854 with the initials BVM) even if as early as 1761 the first donation was made by M. Hiblet to build the church.

Torgnon inhabitants are cheerful, lively and friendly. In a word, “Sargaillon”, as they came to be known by the residents of neighbouring villages. This nickname inspired the foundation in 1969 of the folk group “Les Sargaillons de Torgnon”. The group uses old work tools and various wooden implements devised and assembled by some of its members to accompany accordions in playing melodies and dances that evoke the local people’s everyday life and feast days. The participants’ costumes are simple and bright and are lovingly cherished as mementos of former times.

The museum, situated in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, communicating with the San Martin parish church, offers different interesting details:

• a rare Christ on the column, which can be dated back to around the middle of the 14th century;

• a Saint James (unfortunately damaged) from the middle of the 15th century, attributed to the same author of the Saint Maurice of Moron (St-Vincent) and the great Saint Christopher of Saint-Étienne (Aosta);

• a Holy Bishop from the 14th century, accompanied by two altar boys: this is probably the group that decorated the church’s high altar in the 14th and 15th centuries;

• a Madonna and Child and Saints James and Martin, patron saints of the church. These are the most precious works in the museum, dating back at the start of the 16th century, and probably coming from an altar which had to replace the pre-existing one. The three sculptures are from the German school and were propably created in the workshop of Jorg Lederer, sculptor from Allgau, active throughout the first half of the 16th century in Swabia and the Tyrol area.

The territory known as Petit-Monde includes the two villages of Triatel and Étirol, that have maintained the typical inhabited mountain landscape.
In the village of Triatel there is an interesting ethnographical museum located inside traditional rural buildings.

A racard, or granary which is to find nowhere else in the Valley, a grandze, or rural building and a hayloft, built between 1462 and 1700, restored and displayed in a very original fashion, bear witness to a past that might otherwise be forgotten.
The tour begins on the bottom floor of the granary, with the permanent exhibition entitled “The Labyrinth of Memory”, which tells the true story of Man, the origin and evolution of the village, the life and social organisation of the inhabitants of this little corner of the past.
The texts of the exhibition, accompanied by Francesco Corni’s drawings, summarise the local history, and are easy to follow even for children.
As visitors take a look around the numerous inside rooms, the “tsé” and “tzambron”, they can build up a realistic picture of the hard lives led by the local people in the past, governed by the slow rhythm of the work in the fields. The silence brings memories and imagination alive, and visitors can almost hear the ancient sounds of the village, smell the hay and the wheat and the animals. Every day in the summer, the museum “square” is filled with visitors chatting away just like the local mountain folk, and the museum becomes no longer a place to recall the past, but a lively, bustling present.
The tour ends with a visit to the mill, just a short distance away on the Petit Monde torrent.

How to get there
In order to fully appreciate the place, the museum and the surrounding nature, it is advisable to walk to the museum, so you can admire the splendid views over Torgnon, the Valtournenche and the Matterhorn.

The place can easily be reached on foot, although it is also accessible by car, along the same narrow asphalt road, popular with walkers, about 1.8 km long.