Château de Miolans

The Château de Miolans rents its rooms by the day or the evening for receptions, company events, works council outings and weddings, from a vin d'honneur or a cocktail to a cold buffet, a quick lunch or an aperitif-dinner. The fortress stands on a rocky spur above the Combe de Savoie at Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny, between Chambéry and Albertville.

Seminars and company events

Companies and works councils can book the château for a working day or an evening, and combine it with a guided visit of the fortress. Guided tours for groups of 15 or more run by reservation on weekdays outside the main season and throughout the winter, so a company outing can be organised almost all year. A visit of the keep and the prisons fits naturally before a lunch or an aperitif. A group of about fifteen starred chefs from Savoie once spent a day here, with a guided tour of the castle and its keep, a Savoyard lunch and a walk in the gardens. The château also accepts full-day hires for photo shoots, film, television and advertising productions.

Weddings and receptions

Weddings and private parties use the château for the vin d'honneur, the cocktail or a buffet, by day or in the evening. The official site does not name the rooms or give their capacities, so the number of guests is agreed with the owners for each event.

Catering

The reception formats listed by the château are vins d'honneur, cocktails, cold buffets, quick lunches and aperitif-dinners; the caterer arrangement is discussed with the owners. Picnics inside the château are not allowed. There are no toilets inside the château itself, only near the small car park at the entrance of the village, which matters for long events and should be raised at the planning stage.

History and setting

The castle and its chapel appear in the archives in 1083. The Miolans family, one of the oldest in Savoy, built up the Tour Saint-Pierre keep from the 12th century, and the castle watched over the road to Italy through the Maurienne. The line ended in 1523 and the castle passed to the dukes of Savoy. Duke Emmanuel-Philibert turned it into a state prison, used from 1564 to 1792, whose cells were named from L'Enfer to Le Paradis. Nearly 200 prisoners were held here, among them the Italian writer Pietro Giannone and the Marquis de Sade, in 1772 and 1773. After the Revolution the castle failed to sell at auction and was left to decay. Prefect Eugène Guiter bought it in 1869 and began its restoration, and his descendants still own it and open it to the public. It has been a listed historic monument since 1944. A botanical garden is part of the visit.

Getting there

The address is 73250 Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny. By car from Montmélian, leave the A43 at exit 23 and follow signs to Fréterive. From Albertville there is no motorway exit at Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny: take the D 1090 to Fréterive, then the D 201. Coaches over 12 m long or 3.70 m high must arrive from Montmélian, and they park in the large car park at the edge of the hamlet. Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny has a railway station on the line between Chambéry and Albertville.