Description of the attraction
Castello di Gran Castle is located near the village of the same name, which is part of the municipality of Bruson in the Italian region of Val d'Aosta. It occupies the top of a rocky cliff that dominates Bruson and most of the Val d'Aillas. In the Middle Ages, communication with the castle was carried out using flags or mirrors from the nearby Torre di Bono and Castello di Villa in Challan-Saint-Victor. Today, many tourists are attracted to Castello di Gran not only by its architecture and cultural heritage, but also by the legend of the treasures buried in its depths.
The fiefdom of Gran has been in historical records since 515, when King Sigismund of Burgundy bestowed it on the newly created Swiss Abbey of San Maurizio. Probably, it was the monks of this abbey in the 11th century who built the castle together with the Romanesque chapel that has survived to this day. In 1263, the abbey sold the castle to the loyal vassal of the Savoy dynasty, Godefroy de Challan, whose family owned Castello di Gran until the 18th century. It was this castle that was the stronghold of Catarina di Challan in her struggle for the family inheritance. When the Challan family ceased to exist in the 19th century, the castle became the property of the d'Entreve family, who later sold it to the commune of Bruson. And at the beginning of the 20th century, the medieval building was carefully restored by Alfredo d'Andrade and Giuseppe Giacosa.
In its form, Castello di Gran is a typical early medieval castle in the Val d'Aosta. Once it was surrounded by defensive walls 80x50 meters in size and had a number of different structures like a huge keep and a small chapel, which has only survived to this day. The sides of the donjon - a square tower - were over 5.5 meters long. He himself served as the main tower of the castle and the residence of the caretaker. The entrance was at a height of 5 meters above the ground, and it was possible to get inside only with the help of a ladder, which was removed in case of a siege. Later, a separate wing was added to the tower to increase it.
Also noteworthy is the medieval Romanesque chapel dedicated to St. Martin. It consists of a single nave 8 meters long and a semicircular apse. Unfortunately, the ceiling of the chapel collapsed at one time and was never restored.
