Château de Marie

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Marie, of which only scant remains survive at the top of the rocky promontory on which the village of Marie is perched, in the Tinée valley (Alpes-Maritimes), is said to have been built in the early 12th century by Count Alfonso I of Provence to defend access to the Tinée gorges. In 1384 the Count of Provence ceded the castle to Jean Grimaldi de Beuil, who restored it and installed Raymond Grimaldi there; the fief remained associated with the Grimaldi de Beuil family, whose coat of arms – a sixteen-rayed star – is still recalled in the village's heraldic identity. Between 1621 and 1700 the seigneury passed to the Bacilotto and then the Ogliatti families, before the Lovera di Coni family became its last lords from 1700 to 1793, the fief having been raised to a marquisate in 1722. Today only scant ruins of the medieval castle remain, overlooking the hilltop village and the Tinée valley.