Villar Focchiardo: Charterhouse, Baroque Church and Hiking Trail

When choosing a destination in Villar Focchiardo, you can consider different interests: Carthusian history, religious architecture and a regionally registered hiking route. The Certosa di Montebenedetto, the parish church in the heart of the village and the Giro dell’Orsiera offer different points of interest. If you are looking for a hotel for your stay, you can weigh up whether historic buildings or a multi-day hiking route better suit your travel plans.

Carthusian history and multi-day hiking

The Certosa di Montebenedetto is an old Carthusian monastery at an altitude of about 1,160 metres in Villar Focchiardo. It houses a permanent exhibition about the Carthusian Order; visits are possible on request. If you plan to visit the exhibition, take this visiting requirement into account in your preparations.

Villar Focchiardo is one of the municipalities participating in the regionally registered Giro dell’Orsiera. The hiking trail is located in Orsiera Rocciavré Nature Park and is laid out as a six-day circular route of about 55 kilometres, with five stages at mountain refuges. The details are useful in different ways for your planning: the six-day duration gives you the timeframe, about 55 kilometres indicates the approximate distance, and the five stages at mountain refuges show how the circular route is divided.

The Baroque church and its history

The Chiesa Parrocchiale di Maria Vergine Assunta is an 18th-century Baroque church in the heart of Villar Focchiardo. The present building was constructed between 1722 and 1731. Before that, a flood in 1706 destroyed the former church in a lower-lying part of the village. This sequence distinguishes the history of the former building from that of the present church.

The parish church also houses a polychrome wooden crucifix, which probably came from the Certosa di Montebenedetto. “Polychrome” describes the use of colour on the wood; the crucifix’s origin probably connects the artwork to the Carthusian monastery.

Manor houses and medieval local history

The Castello dei Conti Carroccio was originally a massive, roughly rectangular building. It served as the fiefdom’s seat of justice and, for a time, as the feudal lord’s residence. Its original form and historical functions are thus clearly defined: the building served both a judicial purpose and, temporarily, as a residence.

The Palais is Villar Focchiardo’s old fortified house and is associated with the village’s medieval history and the historic routes through the Susa Valley. Ruins with Guelph merlons remain from its imposing façade. They are considered an important monumental testament to the village’s history. The Palais thus brings together two distinct aspects of the historic building: its former role as a fortified house and the surviving remains of its façade.

The early history of the Certosa di Banda can also be placed in context: the first records of the complex date from around 1203. At that time, Andrea di Banda and his family acquired the land on which the first grange of the Certosa di Montebenedetto was established that same year. The acquisition of the land and the establishment of this first grange therefore belong to the same early period in the documented history.

Events calendar 2026

The municipal events calendar, published on 21 April 2026, lists the Sagra del Marrone as a traditional Villar Focchiardo event for 2026. If this event is important to your trip, check the specific date in the municipal calendar before making plans.

Discover more destinations: Alpignano, Volpiano, Bussoleno, San Didero, Montalto Dora, Chivasso, Chiomonte, Settimo Vittone

For the broader travel overview: Turin.