Built at the beginning of the 1900s following the plans of the engineer Carlo Saroldi, Gamba castle was commissioned by Charles Maurice Gamba, daughter of Count Christin d‘Entrèves. Today the castle houses an exhibition route distributed through 13 rooms, with over 150 works of art such as paintings, sculptures, installations, drawings and photographs belonging to a regional collection dating back from the end of the 19th century to the present day.
Beside the works of the maestros of the 20th century, including the sculptures of Martini, Mastroianni, Manzù, Arnaldo and Giò Pomodoro, and paintings by Casorati, De Pisis, Carrà and Guttuso, the collection documents Italian figurative art production from the second half of the century up to contemporary research exponents, such as Schifano, Baruchello, Rama and Mainolfi.A vast and varied selection of works testifies to the movements that have animated the Italian art scene over the past 25 years: for example, the exhibition hosts representations of informal art, geometric abstraction, transavantgarde and pop art. Particular importance is given to the Aosta Valley region through the activity of local artists, or those active in the Valley, on regional commission.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.