Val D'aosta - Italy

Val D'aosta Region - Italy

Aosta

The smallest region of Italy, Valle d'Aosta is separated from France and Switzerland by the dramatic, icy peaks of the Alps. Here in the birthplace of fontina cheese, grazing cows outnumber the region's inhabitants.

The two most important elements of this cuisine are bread and soup, which often contains bread. The local bread, pane nero ("black bread") is made from rye flour and is the primary product in a variety of recipes. Pasta is not traditional in this area; instead, polenta, rice, and gnocchi appear as first courses. As the Valle d'Aostans are mountain people, game is a particularly important part of this region's cuisine.

Almost all milk produced in Valle d'Aosta is used to produce fontina, the buttery, nutty cheese that's been made here for nearly 700 years. This region produces almost 8 million pounds of its trademark fontina each year, the vast majority of which is eaten in Italy. Still made by small, artisanal dairies, Fontina Valle d'Aosta is used extensively in kitchens all over Italy.

Fruit is not abundant in this region, but apples, pears, and wild berries are delicious and find their way into jams and desserts. Chestnuts are high quality and honey from the Valle di Cogne is some of the best in Italy. One of the region's traditional desserts is crema cotta, the origins of which are also claimed by Piemonte.

Holiday in Valle d'Aosta

But as you drive into the Valle d'Aosta region from Germany, France or Switzerland you'll get a few clues to its cultural similarities. Valle d'Aosta is one of the regions with semi-autonomy from Rome and central Government. You'll find both the conversation and the road signs in both Italian and French. And when you sit down in a restaurant, you'll find the dishes on offer reflecting Switzerland, France and Germany as well as Italy and the Mediterranean.

Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn

Valle d'Aosta is the smallest of the Italian regions and is also the least populous. Packed within this small and almost exclusively mountainous region are Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn (and the Mont Blanc tunnel). And it has excellent winter sports at resorts like Breuil-Cervinia and Courmayeur.

Dual language, underpopulated and very much a crossroads ... much of this is down to geography and history needless. Continental Europe is divided from Italy by the imposing barrier of the Alps. Even today, you can only enter Italy via a handful of tunnels through the Alps, such as the Frejus and the Mont Blanc Tunnels.

On the pilgrim's way

Such isolation moulded the region. From the earliest times, this region was a hugely important gateway, both strategically and economically. He who held Valle d'Aosta earned good money from the continuous stream of merchants and pilgrims, early day tourists heading to Venice, Florence and Rome. Militarily, holding the passes conferred huge strategic power.

Being more akin to its Swiss and French neighbours, the dishes of Valle d'Aosta have a strong flavour of the north. Holiday in Valle d'Aosta and you may try the valdostana: a veal chop covered with breadcrumbs, fried, wrapped in ham and the local fontina cheese, then baked. The local cheese, Fontina, is a staple of soups and fondues, themselves a large part of the Valle d'Aosta menu. Typical soups include pumpkin, onion and cabbage, with other dishes including mint fritters, nettle omelettes, polenta and ratatouille: not what you expect in Italy but marvellous nonetheless. There are very good wines too, with the highest vineyards in Europe producing fragrant wines such as Nus Rouge and Torrette.

Skiing and snow boarding

Today, the religious pilgrims have been largely replaced by those on vacation in Valle d'Aosta. They head for winter sports meccas such as Courmayeur. Good for skiing in winter and with beautiful walking in summer, the mountains are a superb holiday destination all year round. The slopes are covered in firs and pines, with rhodedendrons and junipers, edelweiss, gentians and buttercups. The lower slopes of the main valley are clad in birch, hazel and sycamore woods, orchards and vineyards.

The Gran Paradiso National Park covers some 15 per cent of Valle d'Aosta; this a present from Italian King Victor Emmanuel II, who gave his hunting grounds to the nation in 1922. This superb countryside is a protected haven for ibex, chamois and golden eagles.

Valle d'Aosta must sees:

Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn - even if you're not a winter sports enthusiast, make time in your Valle d'Aosta vacation to see some of Europe's highest and most beautiful mountains. Those with strong stomachs can take a cable car excursion.

Winter sports - and if you are a fan of winter sports you're in luck. With Courmayeur, Cervinia, Champoluc and the rest, you have excellent snow, good runs and lifts and excellent apres ski. Winter sports holidays in Valle d'Aosta are highly recommended.

Gran Paradiso National Park - in 1922, King Victor Emmanuel II gave his hunting grounds to the nation. A haven for golden eagles, chamois and ibex and containing an astonishing 70 castles ... the stuff of fairytale holidays. No holiday in Valle d'Aosta is complete without a visit here.

Aosta

Valle d'Aosta is the smallest Italian region. It is situated on the Italian border with France and Switzerland. This territory is mostly mountainous with the highest peaks in Europe namely, Monte Bianco, Cervino, Monte Rosa, Gran Paradiso) with beautiful green valleys on the sides of the long Dora Baltea river, a tributary of the largest river in the Italy, the Po.

The region has a surface area of approximately 3,200 square km, with a total population of about 120,000 inhabitants, concentrated in the valley bottoms. Most of the population speak a French dialect.

Agriculture is mostly based on vineyards, and the raising of cows allows a rich production of milk and cheese.

There are also important industries and highly developed tourist facilities welcoming visitors both on the ski fields in winter and in the valleys and mountains in the summer.

Unforgettable are the phenomenal castles on top of high rocks and one of the few casinos authorized in Italy, in the elegant center of Saint Vincent.

French is used in the government acts and laws, though the language actually spoken by the biggest part of the population is Francoprovençal, that used to be spoken more generally in Savoy, French-speaking Switzerland, Lyon area and the Jura. The Valle d'Aosta is the region in which the language is most in use. The Valle d'Aosta is an Alpine valley that with its side valleys includes the Italian slopes of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn; its highest peak is the Gran Paradiso, protected in Gran Paradiso National Park, established in 1922.

The region is a major area for winter sports namely the most famous resort, Courmayeur. The Dora Baltea has its origins in the Valle d'Aosta, flowing south to join the Po.

The upper Val d'Aosta is the traditional southern starting-point for the tracks, then transformed into roads, which led over the Alpine passes. The road through the Great St Bernard Pass (or today the Great St Bernard Tunnel) leads to Martigny, Valais, and the one through the Little St Bernard Pass to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Savoie. Today Aosta is joined to Chamonix in France by the Mont Blanc Tunnel, a road tunnel on E25 running underneath the Alps.

The area was of strategic importance, under the control of many different rulers after the collapse of Roman rule in the 5th century, until it passed to the house of Savoy in the 11th century. In 1927 the province of Aosta was established with centers from the area of Turin and Ivrea, then the Valle d'Aosta was established as an autonomous region of Italy in 1948.

Friuli Venezia Giulia