Queen Margherita's castle
In the Gressoney valley, the valley of the Lys, at the foot of Monte Rosa, near the village of Gressoney-Saint-Jean, stands Castel Savoia, an elegant fairytale castle built between 1899 and 1904 for Queen Margherita of Savoy, the first queen of united Italy, wife of King Umberto I, who loved this valley and spent her summers here for many years, walking in the mountains, which she loved passionately. The castle, designed by the architect Emilio Stramucci, is in an eclectic neo-Gothic style, inspired by medieval castles, with five towers of different shapes topped by pointed roofs, built in grey stone, and stands on a rise surrounded by woods and meadows, with a splendid view of the glaciers of Monte Rosa.
Inside, the rooms, preserved with their original furnishings and decorations, offer an intimate image of the life of the royal court at the beginning of the twentieth century: the wood-panelled rooms on the ground floor, the dining room, the study and the queen's bedroom, with carved furniture and decorations with daisies, "marguerites", the symbol of the queen. A beautiful wooden staircase connects the floors. Around the castle, a rock garden with alpine plants and a park with paths can be visited. Not far away, the Villa Margherita, now the town hall of Gressoney-Saint-Jean, was the queen's first residence in the valley. Gressoney is also the land of the Walser, an ancient people of German origin, whose wooden houses and traditions can be discovered in the valley.
Tip: visit the castle with a guided tour; walk in the rock garden in summer, when the alpine flowers are in bloom.
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