Châtillon

Châtillon sits at one of the strategic geographic junctions of the Aosta Valley — the point on the main Aosta-Turin road (SS26) where the Valtournenche side-valley enters the main Dora Baltea trench, which made the town a controlled crossing in every period of Aostan history and gave it three surviving castles, more per capita than any other commune in the region. The 4,358-resident town is at 549m altitude, 26 km east of Aosta along the SS26, with the Marmore stream cutting through the middle of the centro and the three castles arranged on the surrounding ridges: the Castello Gamba (early 20th-c neo-Gothic, on the south-facing slope, built 1900-1903 for Baron Carlo Maurizio Gamba by the architect Cesare Saroldi, donated to the Region in 1982 and reopened in 2012 as the Pinacoteca della Valle d'Aosta — the regional contemporary art collection with works by Casorati, Carrà, De Pisis, Burri, Manzù, Fontana, Pomodoro, the largest single regional contemporary-art museum in the Western Alps); the Castello di Ussel (14th-c, the prototype monoblock castle that influenced the design of Fénis and other 14th-c Aostan fortresses, restored in the 1990s + now a venue for temporary exhibitions); and the Castello Passerin d'Entrèves (Renaissance 17th-c, still in private family ownership, partially visible from the SS26). The town centro itself is quietly handsome with the Chiesa di San Pietro (15th-c parish, with later restorations + an 18th-c bell tower), the Ponte Romano sul Marmore (Roman-era stone bridge over the Marmore stream, still in use for pedestrian traffic), and the 19th-c Châtillon thermal-water-pumping installations (the local mineral water source — Acqua Châtillon — has been bottled commercially since 1859). The town is the natural base for visits to Cervinia (the famous Cervino/Matterhorn ski + mountain resort, 26 km north up the Valtournenche side-valley), the Lago di Lod thermal lake (5 km north), and the surrounding upper Valtournenche villages. The food is Valdostan-Alpine: fontina (the regional cheese), seuppa à la valpellinentse, Mocetta, polenta concia, the local Petit Rouge red and Müller Thurgau white from the south-facing vineyards along the Dora Baltea. The Marché aux Vins Valdôtains every February (in Aosta but with major Châtillon producer presence) and the Festa di San Pietro on 29 June are the year's main events.