Fortress of Bard
Resorts: Bard
Fortress
The ticket office closes 1 hour before the fortress’s closing time.
- Tuesdays to Fridays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Saturdays, Sundays and on public holidays 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
The Alps Museum:
open following the Fortress timetable
Il Ferdinando, fortresses and frontiers Museum:
open following the Fortress timetable
The Fortress’ Prisons:
- Tuesdays to Fridays 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Saturdays, Sundays and on public holidays 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Opening times are subject to variations: we advice to verify them on the web site reported in the “Contact” area.
• The Caffetteria di Gola is open to the public
• The ticket office is open but it is recommended to use the online sales channels
Reduced 19 - 25 years: € 3.00
Combined tickets
- 2 exhibitions (or museums) of your choice: € 15.00
- Fort All-inclusive (all the museums + all the exhibitions): € 24.00
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Reduced entrance-fee for:
- visitors > 65 years
- university students.
Free admission for:
- Kinder und Jugendliche unter 18 years
- disabled visitors
- tourist guides and journalists on duty and provided with professional card.
For special reductions (groups, families, schools, conventions), guided visits and combined tickets for visiting different spaces, please contact the Fortress’ ticket office.
• access to the Fort from the medieval village through an easy panoramic walk outside. The disabled and their companions, people with walking difficulties and families with pushchairs can use the panoramic elevators.
• the ticket offices are open but we invite you to purchase tickets online on the fortedibard.it website
Accessibility
Wheelchairs:
The Fort has no architectural barriers and each level can be reached by lifts or pedestrian paths equipped with ramps: independent access is possible for disabled people, prams and strollers.
A wheelchair is available upon request for the public with mobility difficulties to facilitate visits to the exhibition spaces. It is advisable to contact the telephone + 39 0125 833818 in advance.
Blind and visually impaired:
To learn about the history of the monumental site, blind people can consult three totems equipped with braille descriptions and relief maps located in an easily accessible area, on the second floor of the multi-storey car park. Models of the Fort are also available in correspondence with the main buildings.
The 3rd panoramic elevator is closed for maintenance. In the presence of tourists with mobility difficulties, contact the staff of the Fortress of Bard who will take care of activating the necessary support services; or report needs in advance +39 0125 833811 – prenotazioni@fortedibard.it
Already during Theodoric’s reign (early 6th century A.D), sixty armed soldiers were garrisoned to defend the “Clausuræ Augustanæ” (a defence system set up to protect the borders of the Empire) in Bard.
In 1034, it was described as “inexpugnabile oppidum”, in one of the oldest references to a castle in Valle d’Aosta. The Savoys became the Lords of Bard in 1242, with Amadeus IV, driven by the insistence of the local inhabitants, who were tired of the abuse of power by Hugh of Bard, who exploited the position of his castle to levy heavy duties on travellers and merchants.
From that time on, the castle was always controlled by the Savoys, who held a garrison there. In 1661, the armies from other fortresses in Aosta Valley, including Verrès and Montjovet, converged in Bard.
The castle took on renewed importance with the passage of the French army in 1704 and particularly in May 1800 on the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte, who found a garrison of 400 Austrian men within the fortress. The defence structures of the fortress were so efficient that Napoleon’s army took about two weeks to overcome the Austrian defences, eventually succeeding thanks to cunning tactics. The fortress was then dismantled by Napoleon, to avoid further problems.
The current appearance of the fort is the result of reconstruction work commissioned by Carlo Felice, at the height of the Restoration, which, from 1830 onwards, turned it into one of the largest military structures in the Aosta Valley. The fortress began to deteriorate at the end of the nineteenth century. It was used as a prison and then as a weapons depot. It was decommissioned in 1975 from military state property and was purchased by the Aosta Valley regional authority in 1990.
Completely renewed in 2006, the fortress hosts the Museum of the Alps, the Children’s Alps (temporarily closed), the “Prisons*, the Fortresses and Frontiers Museum, as well as permanent and temporary exhibitions.
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