Aosta (French Aoste), capital of the autonomous region of Valle d'Aosta, lies some 100km/62mi east of Turin, in a fertile valley at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, ringed by an imposing circle of mountains, with Grand Combin to the north rising to 4,314m/14,158ft.
Importance
The town, which has been a place of importance from time immemorial as the gateway to the Great and Little St Bernard passes, was originally built as the Roman fort of Augusta Praetoria Salassorum soon after 25 B.C., and its plan still reflects the regular layout of the Roman station. It preserves numerous monuments dating from the Roman and medieval periods. It is still an important traffic junction at the meeting of the access roads to the Mont Blanc tunnel and the Great St Bernard pass.
In the center of Aosta, at the point where the main roads of the Roman fort crossed, is the Piazza Chanoux with the Town Hall. A little way northwest stands the cathedral, erected in the 11th and 12th centuries; the present church originates from the 15th-16th centuries. It has a Renaissance facade (c. 1526) with a classical porch, added in 1837. The treasury houses the ivory diptych of the Emperor Honorius (406). On the west side of the cathedral are remains of the Roman forum.
Hours:
April 1 to September 30: 10am-11:30am, 3pm-5:30pm
October 1 to March 31: 3pm-5:30pm; Closed: Mon
Disability Access: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.
There is a very fine excursion northwest from Aosta on the S.S. 27, with sharp turns and hairpin bends to the Vallée du Grand-St-Bernard up the Great St Bernard pass (2,649m/8,148ft). There is also a road tunnel 5,828m/6,376yd long, between St-Rhémy and Bourg-St-Bernard on the Swiss side. The pass, which lies between the Mont Blanc massif and the Valais Alps (small lake), marks the Italian-Swiss frontier. In Swiss territory is the hospice (dog breeding), founded by St Bernard (d. 1086).
South of Aosta is Les Fleurs (1,360m/4,488ft), which can be reached by cableway or by road (11km/7mi). From here there is a cabin cableway to the Conca di Pila (1,800m/5,940ft), then a chair-lift to the Lac du Chamolé (2,312m/7,630ft).
The old town of Aosta is still surrounded by well-preserved Roman town walls, forming a rectangle 724 by 572m/792 by 626yd, with twenty towers. The east gate or Porta Praetoria, originally three-arched, lies some 2.5m/8.25ft below the present street-level, with a spacious courtyard at the rear. Close by is the square tower of a medieval castle which belonged to the Lords of Quart.
A little way northwest of the Arco di Augusto is the former collegiate church of Saint Ours (Collegiata di S Orso), originally built in the 10th century, remodeled in Late Gothic style at the end of the 15th century with fine 11th century frescoes and beautifully carved choir stalls (16th century). In front of the church is a fine campanile, partly built of Roman hewn stones (c. 1150); on the south side is a Romanesque cloister (1133) with fine carved capitals.
Disability Access: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.
From the Porta Pretoria it is only a few yards northwest to the stage wall, 22m/73ft high, of the Roman theater, actually four stories high. In the neighboring garden of a monastery there are some arches of the amphitheater.
Hours:
Always closed on: Christmas - Christian (December 25)
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Aosta
