Chiesa parrocchiale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo

Beneath the rocky spur of the castle, the parish church of Saint-Pierre gathers several eras into one building: a medieval square bell tower, a nave rebuilt in 1871-72, and early twentieth-century decoration by two painting brothers whose work still covers the façade and vault. It remains the village's parish church.

Why it matters

This is the church that gave the comune its name, dedicated to the apostle venerated by the De Sancto Petro lords whose castle stands just above it. The regional tourism portal records that the present building was constructed entirely in 1871-72 over the remains of earlier medieval churches, so the site's sacred history is far older than its walls. Inside, the decoration is unusually complete for a rural Alpine parish: the brothers Alessandro and Augusto Artari painted the façade and vault in the first decades of the twentieth century, filling the area around the white marble high altar with the Last Supper, the Evangelists and saints of the Aosta Valley. An 1889 canvas by Stornone showing Christ with Saint Peter hangs above the altar in a frame carved by the sculptor Comoletti, and an eighteenth-century walnut pulpit carries carved panels narrating episodes from the life of Saint Peter.

What to notice

• The square bell tower in plastered stone, a medieval survival with arrow

slits running from base to top and openings serving one, two and up to three bell chambers; sources differ on whether to date it to the twelfth or the thirteenth century.

• The Artari brothers' painted vault and façade, where the Last Supper and

the Valdostan saints surround the high altar area in early twentieth-century style.

• The Stornone canvas of 1889 depicting Christ and Saint Peter, set within

the large frame by the sculptor Comoletti.

• The eighteenth-century walnut pulpit, whose carved panels read like a small

picture cycle of the life of the church's patron.

• The single rectangular nave and the white marble high altar, typical of the

nineteenth-century rebuild, and the position on the rocky ledge just below the castle, which frames the church against the turrets above.

Context and history

Saint-Pierre grew in the shadow of two castles, and its parish stood on this ledge long before the current building. Medieval churches occupied the site, and when they were replaced in 1871-72 the new construction kept the medieval bell tower, the one element that still speaks of the earlier complex. The regional portal describes the result as a single-aisled, rectangular church with a white marble altar, and documents the decorative campaign of the Artari brothers in the first half of the twentieth century, together with the Stornone altarpiece of 1889 and the Comoletti frame. The municipal heritage publication adds that the façade was repainted in 2011, evidence that the decoration remains an actively cared-for element of parish life rather than a frozen museum interior. Worship continues in the church.