At the head of the Lys valley, in a landscape of larch forest and high pasture below the Monte Rosa massif, stands a building that belongs less to the Middle Ages it evokes than to the taste of its own period. Castel Savoia was built at the turn of the twentieth century as a summer residence for Queen Margherita of Savoy, who was passionate about the mountains and made the Gressoney valley her retreat. Its silhouette of turrets, gables and steep roofs is a deliberate exercise in the eclectic, neo-medieval manner, while the interiors, panelled and comfortable, belong to their period. A rock garden of alpine plants was laid out around it, and the house drew the court into a valley otherwise known for its Walser communities and their timber architecture. Filmed in 4K with aerial coverage of the valley and the glaciers, the programme portrays the mountain as an aristocratic destination.
