Montestrutto Castle, Medieval castle in Montestrutto, Italy

Montestrutto Castle stands on a rocky spur at the mouth of the Valle d'Aosta, above the Dora Baltea river in Settimo Vittone. Built of stone in neo-Gothic style, it incorporates a tower first raised in the ninth century and the church of San Giacomo within its complex.

The castle began as a defensive tower protecting a Benedictine monastery and underwent multiple destructions and rebuilding between the 1500s and 1900s. These cycles of destruction and restoration shaped the structure we see today.

In 1929 the castle was acquired by the daughters of violinist and composer Rosario Scalero, who gave it to him. During stays there and after his 1946 retirement he taught pupils including Samuel Barber, George Walker, Nino Rota, Gian Carlo Menotti and Leonard Bernstein. His daughter Alessandra Scalero translated Virginia Woolf.

The castle stands on the east bank of the Dora Baltea in the comune of Settimo Vittone, about 15 km north of Ivrea and roughly 50 km north of Turin. It straddles the old Roman road absorbed into the Via Francigena, the pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, so walkers on that path pass below it. The site is reached from the village of Montestrutto, at the mouth of the Valle d'Aosta.

The castle straddles an ancient Roman road that later became part of the Via Francigena, the pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome. The village's Roman name, Mons obstructus, refers to the way it partly blocks access to the Valle d'Aosta and the Alps.