It is the land of four thousand meteres of height. Monte Bianco, Monte Rosa, Cervino and Gran Paradiso dominate, with their perennial snows, this corner of the Alpine arch, the extreme northern strip of Italy that winds between Switzerland and France. Land of valleys and woods, pastures and waterfalls, Valle D’Aosta is sometimes wild nature but also lively towns and picturesque villages of history and traditions. Etroubles, Fenis, Arnad, Saint-Rhemy and Gressoney-Saint-Jean are some of the most beautiful small towns in the region.
ETROUBLESÂ –Â OPEN SKY MUSEUM
It is one of the Aosta Valley museum villages. Located halfway between the capital and the Swiss border, it is located on the road that climbs to the Gran San Bernardo Pass. Napoleon Bonaparte passed through it on his descent to Italy, stopping there in May 1800 going towards Marengo. The parish church of 1815, the Romanesque bell tower from the 15th century and the museums make Etroubles one of the most interesting destinations in the region.
The open-air museum, with works by internationally renowned artists, and a good dish of soup valpellinentse, are worth a visit.
FENIS – MIDDLE AGES AT THE BORDERS
Fènis is above all its extraordinary castle, a national monument, considered among the most representative medieval expressions of the Aosta Valley. Among the major tourist attractions of the Valle D’Aosta, it was the prestigious seat of representation of the major exponents of the Challant family and offers a scenic architecture with the double walls of crenellated walls that enclose the central building and the various towers. Also to be seen in Fenis is the MAV, a museum of traditional Aosta Valley craftsmanship, an exhibition of objects that recount the evolution of Valle d’Aosta craftsmanship.
GRESSONEY-SAINT-JEAN – VIEW ON MONTE ROSA
It is the spectacle of Monte Rosa that dominates the scene at Gressoney-Saint-Jean, an elegant center of the Lys valley, with its characteristic historical center where some well-preserved Walser houses frame the church of San Giovanni Battista with its beautiful sixteenth-century bell tower.
On the edge of the village there are the emerald green waters of the enchanting Lake Gover in which the Rosa glaciers are mirrored, while just outside the village, immersed in the green of the woods, there is Castel Savoia, wanted and erected by Queen Margherita in 1894 as a residence for his holidays in the valley.
ARNAD – ARTE E LARDO
Arnad is a small village of the valley bottom with a great agricultural tradition that has made lard its typicality. Appreciated smallgood, served on all the tables of the region, the tasty and fragrant lard of Arnad PDO, seasoned with salt, spices and mountain aromas is one of the gastronomic delights of Valle D’Aosta. Among the treasures of the village there are the bridge of Echallod, exemplary work in eighteenth-century masonry, the ancient and sumptuous Castle of Vallaise and the church of San Martino dating back to the year one thousand.
SAINT-RHEMY-EN-BOSSES – HIGH ALTITUDE HAM
There are a few hundred inhabitants of Saint-Rhèmy-en-Bosses, a small village scattered in the upper valley of the Great St. Bernard. A handful of kilometers from the Gran San Bernardo pass, in the beautiful church of San Lorenzo, in the beautiful bell tower of the church of Saint-Lèonard and in the castle of Bosses the main architectural emergencies. Saint-Rhèmy-en-Bosses is also home to the highest ham factory in Europe, whence comes the Valleè d’Aoste Jambon de Bosses PDO raw ham served in the best restaurants in the region.
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