Villa Margherita
Resorts: Gressoney-Saint-Jean
The building was constructed in 1888 and designed by German engineers for the noble Beck Peccoz family. From 1889 to 1896, numerous members of the royal family, including the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, fondest of Gressoney, stayed here on several occasions.
The municipality of Gressoney-Saint-Jean purchased the compound in 1968 to house the town hall.
The compound includes several buildings: the house immediately astounds visitors with its abundance of spires, gables, balustrades and impressive grey granite balconies. The guard house at the courtyard entrance is used as barracks by the carabinieri and the long, low building on the northern side once housed the stables and carriages. A stone dome used as an ice house is located behind the villa on the north-east corner. The compound is surrounded by a 19,000 square metre park mainly covered by a larch and pine wood.
Worthseeing:
- the two main doors, made of solid oak and artistically cast bars
- the atrium, with a Palladian mosaic floor, provides a view of the central wooden staircases with wrought iron handrails surmounted by rich nut and oak mouldings
- the first floor main hallway, lined with mirrors, chests and closets, has a ceiling decorated with delicate oil-painted floral motifs
- the first floor parlours are the most beautiful and best preserved in the villa: specifically, the original furniture and upholstery are preserved in tact in the south-east study, including the valuable Persian rug, twenty five square metres of delicate shades of pink and fuchsia
- the elegant enameled ceramic Bavarian stoves, each a different shape and colour in every room. It is said that a cubic metre of wood and a specifically dedicated servant were needed to feed these fires.
Some rooms can be visited upon request during town office business hours.
Note - this information is not directly connected to the Cammino Balteo path but it is part of the Aosta Valley tourist offer.