11020 Bard Italy

Fortress of Bard complex is the protagonist of a wide project aimed at the creation of a cultural pole in the Western Alps of Italy. From impregnable defence for the valley the Fortress has been transformed into a gateway to the Alps’ culture and traditions, with a museum centre in the forefront of the international scenery dedicated to the mountain. Nowadays the Fortress offers only a part of the several activities planned by the project, whose purpose is to bring together innovative cultural spaces, services and accommodation in one single structure. To complete the project, in addition to the Museum of the Alps, The Children’s Alps, and the space for temporary exhibitions, Fortress of Bard will host two other museums (Frontiers Museum; Fortress Museum), an info-point to promote the cultural artistic heritage of Valle d’Aosta Region (already working); a school area provided with a lecture room for lessons, meetings and film projections; two conference rooms; a media centre; historical and thematic paths; a small refined hotel, a restaurant and a café (already working).

Piazzale Funivie, 11021 Breuil-Cervinia, Valtournenche Italy

An infinite snowy area that begins at 1,524 metres, in Valtournenche, embraces Breuil-Cervinia, rises up to 3,480 metres of Plateau Rosà, touches the 4,000 m peak of Piccolo Cervino, climbes up to 4,478 m to the top of the Cervino. An area where the infinite snow continues on the Swiss side to Zermatt. An area where the snow is the setting of sport, holidays and fun. The tourism vocation of Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche had it’s beginning more than two hundred years ago. Excursionists and academics were the pioneers of a tourism that united sport, scientific study and intellectual exchange. In 1936, a new Breuil-Cervinia was created. The construction of the first cable car was a cutting-edge work of engineering excellence. The Hotel Gran Baita situated at the foot of the slopes, with the cable car departure station annexed to it, anticipates by over half a century the concept of an integral complex for skiing. Breuil-Cervinia became the Queen of the snow. From sport to cinema, politics and commerce, those who count meet here. Innovation, in Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche, is the key word. New ways to practice sport, new ways to enjoy a holiday, new services to allow more free time. The technology is not limited to the rapid lift systems, but also to the territorial fibre optic network that allows the information to be transmitted in real time. Time and space dimensions have changed thanks to the e-skipass, to the keycard and to the hotel reservation system via the internet. 350 thousands web navigators every month visiting the site to check out the webcams, weather reports, lift status and snow conditions. In Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche, collaboration between the operators in the area guarantees guests quality and state of the art solutions.

Localita Chez Sapin, 1, 11020 Fenis Italy

Among the most famous of the castles in the Aosta Valley, Fenis strikes visitors with its triumph of towers and crenellated walls. The castle sits on flat ground, which is unusual; Aimone de Challant improved it by building an impressive defensive system, which also features double curtain walls. However, more than being a fortress, the Fenis castle was a prestigious and refined residence: the courtyard and the rooms inside are rich in frescoes - the result of a decorating campaign started by Aimone’s son, Bonifacio in all likelihood. Not to miss is the famous St. George slaying the dragon by Jacquerio and his school, on the stone semicircular courtyard staircase. Many of the furnishings present, which are not original to the castle, were purchased by Alfredo d’Andrade, then Superintendent of Fine Arts, who supervised the restoration work at the end of the nineteenth century thus restoring the castle to its former glory.

Via Porta Praetoria Angolo Via du Baillage, 11100, Aosta Italy

The Aostan Roman Theatre stands out for its straight southern facade measuring 22 meters in height. Its majesty is punctuated by a series of buttresses and arches and is lightened by three orders of windows with different width. The masonry is characterized by large rectangular blocks of conglomerate and of local limestone. This suggestive part was originally longer than 60 m. The east and west sides were about 38 m long. The cavea is easily recognisable, as a semicircular structure where the public sat. Only the last six steps remain visible, in addition to the two, lower and wider, where the most important people used to sit. The radial substructures on which laid the rest of the terraces are still in their original place. The stage was located in front of the cavea, of which only the foundations are still visible. Small rooms behind served as dressing rooms for the actors, while the sides of the stage were used as deposits for equipment. The entire structure was then completed by arcades that stood against the perimeter wall on the shorter sides. The theatre was not built at the same time when the city was founded (25 BC), but rather a few decades later, in the Julio-Claudian era, as some previous buildings were found in this very area.

Lillaz, Cogne Italy

Localita Belvedere, Gressoney Saint Jean Italy

With its pointed turrets standing out from the surrounding woods, the castle of Queen Margarita of Savoy looks straight out of a fairy tale. Though it was built on models of the late Middle Ages, it dates from the early Twentieth century. It was then equipped with the latest technical equipment of that time, and it is surrounded by a large park with all the dependencies and a rocky Alpine garden with many botanical species. The interior still shows part of the original furnishings: paintings, stained glass, wood panelling, coffered ceilings and furniture made according to the taste of the Queen, she is evoked in all its parts by the flower bearing her name. The tour includes the ground and the first floor, connected by a spectacular wooden staircase with griffins and eagles.

Strada Monte Bianco 28, 11013, Courmayeur Italy

Piazza Porta Pretoria, 11100, Aosta Italy

Fraz. Villes Dessus, 11010 Introd Italy

Piazza Giovanni XXIII, Aosta Italy

The way leading to the Cryptoporticus is located in the garden on John XXIII square. It is a monumental building marking a sacred area for cult. It is a basement building with a series of windows. It was horseshoe-shaped and is formed by two parallel tunnels with barrel vaults, supported by sturdy pillars. The Cryptoporticus dates back to the Augustan age: it served mainly as a supporting structure of the land level that in that part of the city formed a slight slope from North to South, therefore creating a gap between the sacred area and the adjacent legal area. The colonnade above him served as a cornice for the two temples that stood side by side on a single podium, which could be reached by a staircase. The long east side of the Eastern Temple is well-preserved, and it can be seen nowadays, under the archdeaconry building. The Cryptoporticus therefore formed a covered walkway surrounding the sacred buildings. Its galleries represented an extension of the Forum colonnade, whose main function was to protect from rain and snow in winter and from sun in summer. During the third and fourth centuries, it probably turned to be used for goods storage.

Gran Paradiso National Park, 11100, Aosta Italy

Strada Ponte Suaz, 11100, Gressan Italy

18 minutes by cable car from Aosta, it is our Nature that makes us different. Overlooking the highest peaks of Europe, in Pila, you can live the true essence of the Alps between a day on skiing, a snowshoe in the woods or sharing the taste of being at the table together enjoying italian food and wine. Discover your true nature in Pila.

Piazza Porte Pretoriane 3, 11100, Aosta Italy

Localita Lalex, 11010 Sarre Italy

The time span of almost a millennium represents the background of this castle. It was built in its present form at the beginning of the eighteenth century and in 1869 it became the property of the king Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, who chose him as one of his favourite hunting lodges. The visit includes the royal apartments on the main floor with the living room and the trophy gallery, an extraordinary tribute to the king's passion for hunting, here transformed into decorative art. Some teaching rooms were arranged on the ground floor to explore the history of the royal hunts in the Alps and the history of the castle, while the second floor rooms retrace the history of the Savoy dynasty in the twentieth century through the furniture and the portraits.

Breuil-Cervinia, Valtournenche Italy