The Aosta Valley is a small, almost entirely mountainous paradise marked by the highest mountains in the Alps on the border with France.  But in addition to being a popular skiing and hiking destination for its natural beauty,  this region can boast of well over seventy castles  that literally make one’s eyes glaze over with their beauty.

Though they are all must-see’s, and it’s  almost impossible to pick out the best, here are a few that we consider to be the absolutely unmissable. Fénis is the most visited by tourists and among the best preserved in Italy.  Perched on a small hill,  this building was the stately residence of the noble Challant family,  and already looking at it from the outside with its picturesque towers and crenellated walls, it literally drags us into the Middle Ages.