Aosta Valley (Italian Autonomous Region)

Valle d'Aosta is an autonomous Italian region in the northwest of the country, south of the Valais. It has many similarities with this Swiss canton: it is a long valley flanked by counter-valleys that climb to the highest Alpine peaks, the Valais Alps and the Mont Blanc massif to the north and the Gran Paradiso massif to the south.

The mountainous Val d'Aosta corresponds to the upper valley of the Dora Baltea, a tributary of the Po. An exclusively French-speaking region since the 16th century, it underwent forced Italianisation during the Fascist period, which it was able to resist.

Since 1948, the official languages are French and Italian, but the Valdôtain dialects, variants of Arpitan (Franco-Provençal), are widely spoken. The Valle d'Aosta is the only region where Franco-Provençal has been preserved as a living language, whereas it was once spoken throughout French-speaking Switzerland, Savoy, the Jura, the Lyonnais and other parts of France.

From its capital Aosta and its Roman ruins to its highest valleys, the region is simply fascinating, with excellent mountain food and wines, some of which are produced with autochthonous grapes that you won't find anywhere else.

Don't miss the Valtournenche, the valley that climbs to the foot of the Matterhorn. This will give you the opportunity to discover this mythical peak from another angle and to realise that the emblematic mountain of Switzerland is half Italian!

Go as far as Entrèves, above Courmayeur, to discover that the Mont Blanc massif straddles France and Italy, and climb to Cogne, at the foot of the Gran Paradiso massif, to discover the region where all the ibexes of the Swiss Alps come from!

From France via the Mont Blanc tunnel or from Switzerland via the Gran San Bernardo tunnel, the Valle d'Aosta is a magical and easily accessible region that you won't soon forget!