Montjovet, parish church

Introduction

La chiesa parrocchiale di Montjovet, situata nel cuore della Valle d'Aosta, è un luogo ricco di storia e testimonianze del passato. L'attuale edificio, dedicato alla Natività della Vergine, rappresenta la più recente tappa di una lunga tradizione di luoghi di culto che hanno caratterizzato la vita religiosa di questa comunità. La storia della parrocchia affonda le sue radici in epoca medievale, quando il centro religioso principale si trovava nella località Vignola, sulla collina, lungo il tracciato dell'antica strada consolare. È interessante notare come questa posizione sia legata alla Via Francigena: Vignola viene infatti associata alla 44ª tappa del viaggio del vescovo Sigerico nel 990, un itinerario fondamentale per la comprensione di questa storica via di pellegrinaggio.

Description

The parish church of the Nativity of the Virgin

In medieval times, the parish church, dedicated to Saint Eusebius de Publius, was located on the hill, in what is now Vignola, near the route of the ancient consular road, and is hypothetically identified as the 44th stop on the journey of Bishop Sigeric, returning from Rome in 990, whose travel diary is now a fundamental document for reconstructing the route of the ancient Via Francigena. The church was probably destroyed by a landslide that devastated the hill of Montjovet in the 12th century. The parish seat was then moved to the village church, dedicated to Saint Mary.
In the 15th century, a branch church dedicated to Saints Eusebius and Leodegarius was built in a location at the far end of the old village equally close to the course of the Dora Baltea; this new church, together with the cemetery, was completely destroyed by a flood in 1586. A new sacred building was then built around 1590 at Plan-Gerp. A little further downstream, but still sheltered from the flooding of the Dora, work began in 1832 on the construction of the current parish church dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin, consecrated on 3 May 1837. The building has a rectangular plan with a single nave with pavilion vaults and a semicircular apse. The bell tower, coeval with the church, houses five bells, one of which is dated 1522 and comes from the village church. Next to the church stands the parish house, a very harmonious building from the Napoleonic era, formerly the town hall.