The (in in north-western
Italy . It is bordered by
France to the west,
Switzerland to the north and the region of
Piedmont to the south. The region has a special autonomous status and forms one of the
Provinces Of Italy . The regional
Capital is
Aosta/Aoste .
The Aosta Valley is the smallest region in Italy and has the lowest population density.
The region covers
3,263 Km² and has a population of about 120,000, some of it
Francophone , concentrated in the valley bottomlands.
French is used for the regional government's acts and laws, though the language actually spoken by the largest part of the population is
Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) . This language was once widely spoken in
Savoy ,
Bresse ,
Lyon area, and the
Jura regions of
France , and the
Suisse-Romande region of
Switzerland . Today, the Valle d'Aosta region has the most speakers of any
Franco-Provençal Language . The regional
Dialect is called
Valdôtain (Valdoten) or ''
Patois ''. The residents of the small town of
Gressoney speak a
Dialect of
German .
The Aosta Valley 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 . It is a major centre for
Winter Sport s, most famously at
Courmayeur . The
Dora Baltea has its origins in the Valle d'Aosta, flowing south to join the
Po .
The upper Aosta Valley is the traditional southern starting-point for the tracks, then roads, which divided here to lead 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 . Valle d'Aosta was established as an
Autonomous Region of Italy in
1948 .
The first inhabitants of the Aosta Valley were
Celts and
Ligures , whose language lingers in some
Local Placenames . Rome conquered the region from the local
Salassi ''ca.'' 25 BC and founded
Augusta Praetoria (Aosta) to secure the strategic mountain passes, which they improved with bridges and roads. After Rome the high valley preserved traditions of autonomy, reinforced by its seasonal isolation, though it was loosely held in turns by the
Goths and the
Lombards , then by the
Burgundian Kings in the 5th century, followed by the
Franks , who overrran the Burgundian kingdom in
534 . At the division among the heirs of
Charlemagne in
870 , the Aosta Valley formed part of the
Lotharingia n Kingdom of Italy, in a second partition a decade later, it formed part of the Kingom of Upper Burgundy, which was joined to the
Kingdom Of Arles — all doubtless without many significant corresponding changes in the personnel of the virtually independent fiefs in the Valle d'Aosta. In 1031/2
Umberto Biancamano , the founder of the
House Of Savoy , received the title ''count of Aosta'' from the Emperor
Conrad II of the
Franconia n line and built himself a commanding fortification at
Bard .
Saint Anselm Of Canterbury was born in Aosta in 1033/4. The region was divided among strongly fortified
Castle s, and in
1191 Tomaso Di Savoia found it necessary to grant to the communes a ''Carta delle Franchigie'' ("Charter of Liberties") that preserved autonomy, rights that were fiercely defended until
1770 , when they were revoked in order to tie Aosta more closely to the
Piedmont , but which kept re-surfacing during post-Napoleonic times. Under
Mussolini , a forced programme of "Italianization", including
Population Transfer s of Valdostans into Piedmont and Italian-speaking workers into Aosta, fostered movements towards
Separatism ; Aosta was regranted its
Autonomy in 1948
{Link without Title} .
In the mid- to
1563 .
During the
Middle Ages the region remained strongly
Feudal , and castles, such as those of the Challant family in the Valley of Gressoney, still dot the landscape. In the
12th and
13th Centuries ,
German-speaking Walser communities were established in the Gressoney, and some communes retain their separate Walser identity even today.
The Aosta Valley remained agricultural and pastoral until the construction of
Dam s to harness the potential of its
Hydroelectric Power brought metal-working industry to the region.
