The Aosta Valley is small, but it contains many small ones villages fairy-tale and enchanting, almost unreal landscapes. And in every season it is among the favorite destinations for tourists who love the mountains, nature, skiing, healthy entertainment, historical, artistic and cultural riches, traditions, flavors and unique products of its villages and everything that have yet to be revealed.
Three villages of marked historical and artistic interest
Province of Aosta
Bard
The toponym perhaps derives from Celtic Cafe, fortress, fortified place. Carvings on the cliffs attest to the presence of inhabitants near the village since Neolithic. Bard is the smallest Italian municipality, but due to its position it has always had considerable importance from a commercial and military point of view. The village is dominated by fortress and has many historic buildings.
Bard
Worth seeing Strong of Bard which houses the prisons, the Alpine Museum, the Fortifications and Frontiers Museum and is also home to exhibitions and shows. Among the events they should be remembered Marché au Forta food and wine festival; Napoleonica historical re-enactment of Napoleon’s passage through this territory; Middle Ages in the land of the Challanta costume party with meetings and games in the lands of the noble family, and the exhibition of nativity scenes outdoors during the Christmas holidays.
L’Borgo di Bard Cultural Association annually organizes cultural events, artistic exhibitions and shows. The typical holiday dish is flower of cousse, Stuffed Pumpkin Flowers; Bard wine is a bright almond red.
The oldest pilgrimage route is the Via Francigena, which crosses the village. Particularly interesting is the geophysical archaeological site of giants’ potscavities dug by water erosion.
Étroubles
The ancient name of the place was in Latin stipulae, straw stubble. In the area around Étroubles, years ago there were large expanses of cereals. Étroubles may derive from etrobla (thatched fields) in the Aosta Valley patois.
The village has works of art, statues and paintings, displayed in the streets and on the walls of the houses. Exhibitions of great artists are often organized there. Étroubles is a historic place with a tower from the 12th century, a bell tower from the end of the century. XV and an ancient parish church, rebuilt in the 19th century. There are five chapels in the larger villages: Bezet, Echevennoz, Eternod, Saint-Roch and Vachéry.
The village is very well-kept, graceful, decorated with flowers, the cobblestones that pave the streets and pretty stone and wooden houses.
Three beautiful hotels in Valle d’Aosta
Worth seeing is the Cheese Museum with its display of ancient work tools and the Energy Museum at the Bertin Central.
The characters of Comba Frèide Carnival they wear masks and costumes, to remember that they resemble the uniforms of Napoleonic soldiers. They are part of the procession in addition to mask (men in uniform) also Napoleon, the musicians, in addition to mascre (the soldiers) also parades Napoleon himself, the Demoiselles they Arlequins.
The Veilla they are re-enactments of the life of the past: the ancient artisans with their artefacts return for an evening to the main street of the village and we celebrate with music, wine and tasty local products.
There Bataille des Reines it is a bloodless battle between cows for the title of queen of the herd.
Typical dish: soup with fontina and black bread, made with rye and wheat.
Fontainemore
Fontainemore is a small village in the Valle d’Aosta 760 meters from the sea, in Vat the Lys. The stream comes from Monte Rosa and crosses the historic center, passing under an ancient and evocative bridge with a single arch. An image of the bridgewhich leads to church of Sant’Antonio Abateis found in a fresco from the end of the 17th century.
According to one tradition, San Mauro monk, while he was absorbed in prayer, saw a spring rising in the square. He immediately invited the people to build a chapel there as a tribute to Sant’Antonio Eremita, which was then built in the 1600s. From that moment the town took the name of Fontainemore, to remember both the saint and the spring.
The village has various small churches and chapels. The main sacred building is the one dedicated to the patron saint, Sant’Antonio Abate, built at the end of the 1400s, with five altars in baroque. One of the two lateral altars to the main one is dedicated to Black Madonna of Oropa. The church has great historical and artistic value. Then there is the chapel of San Rocco, built thanks to the grace received by those who escaped the plague of 1630, and dedicated to a saint who had always dedicated himself to the care of plague victims. Subsequently, the chapel was destroyed by a flood, but the tenacious citizens managed to revive it within three years. Furthermore, a small one was built in the town, the chapel of Nianadedicated to Our Lady of the Snows. Its structure is inspired by that of San Rocco and has a beautiful fresco on the façade, representing the Virgin Mary. Also worth seeing is a characteristic city fountain, with a tap in the shape of a bull’s head, dedicated to the reverend Joseph Creuxnative of the village.
The village of Farettaz it is a rural site, housing the necessary community facilities, school, chapel, mill, wash house and bakery. There Mont Mars nature reserve, the highest peak, is the largest among those in the Aosta Valley. The Gouffre de Guillemore it is a deep gorge carved into the rock by Lys torrent.
From Fontainemore ad Oropa a pilgrimage of sixteenth-century origins takes place every five years out of devotion to the Black Madonna.
Among the typical products there are the banes And beurochestnuts served at the table with touches of butter, and wild garlic, a spontaneous aromatic plant.
Passionate about linguistics and history, she writes short stories, poems and plays. She is interested in art, literature, home decor and current affairs. External collaborator, for information and doubts, contact the editorial staff.
