ISSOGNE CASTLE

Owned by the de Challant family for centuries, the Manoir d'Issogne is an elegant Renaissance stately home commissioned by Georges de Challant-Varey between 1480 and 1506. While the exterior is sober, the interior is a triumph of frescoes and decorations designed to celebrate the owners. A Gothic portal opens onto a vast courtyard whose arcades are decorated with exceptional frescoes depicting scenes of daily life in the ^15th century and artisans' workshops (apothecary, butcher, baker, tailor, cheesemaker), a unique testimony of great historical value. The paintings are in places covered with graffiti, mostly in Old French, reciting proverbs, mottos and even mockery. The main façade of the building features the Challant coat of arms.
In the center of the courtyard, the octagonal pomegranate fountain is topped by a wrought-iron tree. The ground floor features kitchens, a dining room, a courtroom decorated with frescoes by a Flemish artist, and a chapel with mural paintings. On the second floor are the weapons room, Marguerite de La Chambre's bedroom and oratory, and Georges de Challant's bedroom and oratory. The second floor houses the tower, countess and king's rooms, the latter notable for its decoration, entirely based on fleurs-de-lis. One wing of the château houses an exhibition on Vittorio Avondo, the painter from Turin who bought and restored the property at the end of the ^19th century.