Mèison di Pitz

In the heart of Cogne, a historic building reconstructed in 1756 as a hospice for the Capuchin friars from outside the valley retains its original essence despite the changes over time and the different uses.
This building, mentioned as early as 1598, originally belonged to the Millet family and later to the Cavagnet family. In 1701, Anne Marie Cavagnet tied it to the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. In 1730, it was transformed into a hospice for the Capuchins of Aosta but had to be rebuilt due to its precariousness. The new building housed a refectory – or dining hall - and a kitchen on the ground floor and six rooms for the religious on the upper floor, still maintaining the original six windows.
The main entrance, once accessible via a double staircase, now looks like a balcony door. The mission remained active until 1810; then, the building housed a school and returned under the control of the parish. In 1841, the Duke of Genoa, brother of the King of Sardinia Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy, was hosted here, as recalled by a plaque placed on the façade in 1843. Subsequently, the structure became an inn for the first English tourists and mountaineers and was also the seat of the Cogne town hall. In the 1980s, it became the headquarters of the "dentellières" of Cogne, where visitors can admire and buy lace made with bobbin lace, an ancient local tradition.