Remains of the Baratonia Castle and San Biagio

Site overview

The castle of Baratonia belonged to the Visconti family, formerly vicars of the Arduinici Marquises of Turin in the 11th century. After the collapse of the March of Turin, the Viscontis settled there, founding a dynasty that lasted 400 years and controlling various lordships in the Ceronda Valley, in those of Susa and Lanzo, and in the surroundings of Turin. In 1090, “in castro barratonie,” the progenitor Vitelmo Bruno made a donation to the rectory of Oulx, in the Upper Susa Valley. Among his successors, Enrico III Viscount is repeatedly documented in the castle between the 12th and 13th centuries. At the summit of the knoll stood the fortified keep, with the tower, the chapel, and the lords’ palace, and around the hill various defensive works, starting with the moat. The access road ran on the south side, climbing from the center of the village, with the still-existing church of San Biagio. More than once over the centuries, the castle was subdivided and renovated due to hereditary partitions, such as the one carried out in 1329 by the brothers Franceschino and Tommaso Visconti. The progress of military techniques made the old fortresses obsolete, and by the mid-15th century, Eleonora of Baratonia, the last descendant of Vitelmo Bruno, and her husband Guglielmo Arcur, while claiming the title of Viscounts of Baratonia, chose to settle in the recently rebuilt castle of Fiano.