Bramafam Castle

South-west of the centre of Aosta, a massive round tower and a tall ruined building line the street. This is Bramafam Castle. For a century it was the seat of the Challant family’s power in the town.

On a Roman gate

The castle did not appear out of nowhere. It was built on the porta principalis dextera, one of the gates in the Roman walls of Augusta Praetoria. At the end of the 19th century, building work uncovered the Roman road and ancient objects. Roman stones can still be seen at the foot of the tower.

The viscounts’ residence

In the Middle Ages, the viscounts of Aosta, ancestors of the Challant family, turned the old gate into a castle. In the early 13th century there is mention of the ‘Béatrix tower’, perhaps named after Beatrice of Geneva, wife of one of the Challants. The castle served as a residence, but also as a court of law and a public granary. In 1295, Ebal I of Challant ceded the viscountcy to Count Amadeus V of Savoy, in exchange for the fief of Montjovet. Bramafam then lost its role. By the 16th century, it was already in ruins.

A name that cries hunger

In patois, ‘bramé la fam’ means ‘to cry out with hunger’. Two stories explain the name. According to the first, during a famine the starving townspeople came to the foot of the tower to demand the grain stored inside. According to the second, darker one, a jealous Challant had his wife starved to death there.

A tower and a residence

The castle consists of a large rectangular residence and a cylindrical tower crowned with battlements. On the north side, there are double windows. The main entrance, to the west, has an arched doorway. A drawbridge once protected it.

How to see it

Château de Bramafam
Via Bramafam, on the corner of Viale Carducci
11100 Aosta (AO)

For safety reasons, the castle can only be seen from outside. You can walk freely all the way round it, following the Roman wall on foot from the centre.