Castello di Fenis, Valle d’Aosta

The Valle d’Aosta region of Italy sits up in the northwest corner of the country, not far from the famous Mt. Blanc and the Matterhorn of the Alps. This region was once the preferred hunting and summering grounds of both French and Italian kings, and their wealthy friends. So there are lots of castles and ruins of castles in the towns and up in the mountains. We spent three days just outside of the city of Aosta, seeking out as many castles as we could find – we got to 8 of them.

Here are the pages from my travel journal about these castles – they were quick sketches because we encountered lots of rain. Used my trusty .005 Staedtler pigment liner, and either watercolour or Inktense pencils.

Forte di Bard
– .005 pigment liner and watercolour on watercolour paper

Castelli di Sarre and Aymavilles
– .005 pigment liner and Inktense pencils on watercolour paper

Castello di Saint-Pierre, Valle d’Aosta

Castelli Ussel, Saint-Marcel, and Issogne
– .005 pigment liner, Inktense pencils, watercolour on watercolour paper