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Origin and history

The castle of Avully is an ancient fortified house built in the 14th century, the capital of the seigneury of Avully in the municipality of Brenthonne (Haute-Savoie). Built on the remains of a Roman villa attested by fragments of tiles and ceramics, it controlled a strategic passage between Mount Boisy and the Voirons, in Chablais. Its moats have delivered stove tiles from the early Middle Ages, similar to those found in French-speaking Switzerland.

Around 1310, the family of Avully, vassale des Faucigny, was mentioned. In 1323 she admitted the strong house to the Counts of Savoy, then in 1336 to the Dolphins of Vienna, specifying her income of 10 pounds. In the 15th century, the seigneury passed through marriage to the family of Boëge. Jacquemette de Boëge gave her in 1441 to Duke Louis I of Savoy, who immediately sold her to him. Sold in 1499 to Boniface de Saint-Michel, a Geneva bourgeois, the house was profoundly renovated in the 16th century.

In 1536, the Saint Michaels adopted Protestantism during the Bernese invasion. Antoine de Saint-Michel, Baron d'Avully, solemnly abjured in 1596 in Turin, marking the return of Chablais to Catholicism. In the 18th century, the Sales family acquired the castle, abandoned in 1896 and restored from 1971 by Jean and Yvonne Guyon. Ranked a picturesque site in 1946 and a historic monument in 1974, it is now open to the public.

Architecturally, Avully combines medieval defensive elements (quadrangular enclosure, spur towers, mâchicoulis) and Renaissance arrangements (loggias, 16th century staircase). The chapel, the halls decorated with Savoyard coats of arms, and the Italian gardens bear witness to its evolution. The excavations revealed Roman and medieval artifacts, confirming its continued occupation since ancient times.

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