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Aosta Valley

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The Aosta Valley (Italian: Valle d'Aosta, French: Vallée-d'Aoste or Val-d'Aoste, Franco-Provençal: Val d'Outa) is a mountainous Region in north-western Italy. It is bordered by France to the west, Switzerland to the north and the region of Piedmont to the south and east.

With an area of 3,263 km² and a population of about 120,000, it is the smallest, least populous, and least densely populated region of Italy. It is the only Italian region which has no provinces (provincial administrative functions are provided by the regional government, the province being dissolved in 1945 ), and is divided into 74 comunes (Italian: comuni); see: Comunes of the Aosta Valley.

Some communes, concentrated in the valley bottomlands, are Francophone, in the Lys Valley is concentrated a Walser German speaking minority. The regional capital is Aosta.

Geography

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 Mont Blanc.

Climate

The climate of the region is very severe, especially when compared with other places on the Western Alps. This is probably due to the continentally, provided by the mountains that block the mild winds form the Atlantic Ocean. So, places with the same altitude in France or western Switzerland, are not as cold as Aosta Valley. Aosta Valley may be divided in different climatic zones:

The Dora Baltea’s valley, between 300 and 1000 meters, with the mildest climate in all the province, have a typical Oceanic climate, classified as Cfb. The winters are mild, even milder than the subtropical Po river’s Valley, but usually wet and foggy. Snow is frequent only during January and February, but the fog season, which starts in late October, lacks until May. The temperature average for January is between -1 and 3oC. The summers are mild, usually rainy. Temperature averages in July between 17 and 20oC. Main towns in this area: Aosta, Saint-Vincent, Donnas, Courmayeur. Due to the occidental position at the Alpine Arc, the climate classified as Cfb may extend until relatively high places for this climate, especially near the French border, with receives the mild oceanic wind; so, it’s possible to find places at 1500, or even 1900 meters with the same Cfb, climate, but the temperatures are lower, around -2oC in the winter and 15oC in the summer, and mist during all the year.

The valleys around 1300 meters, which, depending on the geomorphology, develop a Humid continental climate Dfb, although with mild winter temperatures for this kind of climate, similar to the temperatures of the Norwegians fjords, as in Trondheim. Winter temperature’s average around -3 or -4oC, and summers between 13 and 15oC. The snow season starts in November and lasts until March. The mist is common during the mourning from April until October. Main communities in this area: Gressoney-Saint-Jean (averages of -4.8oC in January and 13.8 in July), Brusson, Gressoney-La-Trinité.

The mountain lands around 2000 meters, which have a Cold Oceanic Climate Cfc. This area has a climate similar to some northern Norway’s fjords. Even though at a very high altitude (high latitude, in Norway), the climate is mild. This is due to the high influence of the oceanic mild air, that can blow at these regions. The fog is common all the year, especially in April and October, when some years these regions can have more than a week with constant fog and mist. The winters are mild. Main temperature between -3oC, at the driest regions, and 2oC, near lakes. During the summer, the main temperatures are very low, around 12oC.

The valleys above 1600 meters, which usually develop a Cold Continental Climate Dfc. In this climate the snow season is very long, as long as 8 or 9 months at the highest points. During the summer, the mist occur almost every day. These areas are the wettest in the western Alps. Temperatures are low, between -7oC and -3oC in January, and in July between 10 and 13oC. In this area we find, among others, the town Rhêmes-Notre-Dame, which may be the coldest in the Occidental Alps. In this town, winter’s average temperature is around -7oC. Other town with this climate: Chamois, Cervinia (sometimes ET), Bionaz (sometimes mild), Gressoney-La-Trinité – D’Ejola (mild), and others.

The areas above 2000 meters, usually with a Tundra Climate ET, that lacks until 3500 meters. All the months have temperature average bellow 10oC. Winter’s and summer’s averages can change conform the altitude. This climate may be a kind of more severe Cold Oceanic Climate, with low summer’s average, but mild winters, sometimes above -3oC, especially near lakes, or a more severe Cold Continental Climate, with very low winter’s average. Above 3000 meters, the climate becomes typically mountain’s climate. Averages in Pian Rosa, at 3400 meters, are -11.6oC in January and 1.4oC in July. Above 3500 meters, all the months have average bellow the freezing, and we find a Perpetual Frost Climate EF.

History

The first inhabitants of the Aosta Valley were Celts and Ligurians, 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 overran the Burgundian kingdom in 534. At the division among the heirs of Charlemagne in 870, the Aosta Valley formed part of the Lotharingian Kingdom of Italy, in a second partition a decade later, it formed part of the Kingdom 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 1031-1032 Umberto Biancamano, the founder of the House of Savoy, received the title Count of Aosta from the Emperor Conrad II of the Franconian line and built himself a commanding fortification at Bard. Saint Anselm of Canterbury was born in Aosta in 1033 or 1034. The region was divided among strongly fortified castles, and in 1191 Thomas I of Savoy 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. In the mid-13th century Emperor Frederick II made the County of Aosta a duchy (see Duke of Aosta), and its arms charged with a lion rampant were carried in the Savoia arms until the reunification of Italy in 1870 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 region remained part of Savoy lands, with the exception of a French occupation from 1539 to 1563. As part of the Kingdom of Sardinia it joined the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Under Mussolini, a forced programme of "Italianization", including population transfers of Valdostans into Piedmont and Italian-speaking workers into Aosta, fostered movements towards separatism; Aosta was regranted its autonomy in 1948

Economy

The Aosta Valley remained agricultural and pastoral until the construction of dams to harness the potential of its hydroelectric power brought metal-working industry to the region. Today it is also a major centre for winter sports, most famously at Courmayeur and Cervinia. 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.

Politics

The region has a special autonomous status; the province of Aosta ceased to exist in 1945 ().

Demographics

Italian and French are used for the regional government's acts and laws, though Italian is much more widely spoken. The regional language is a dialect of Franco-Provençal called Valdôtain (Valdoten) or patois. It is spoken as a second language by 68,000 residents, about 58% of the population, according to a poll taken by the Fondation Émile Chanoux in 2002. The residents of the villages of Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Gressoney-La-Trinité and Issime, in the Lys Valley, speak a dialect of German origin. As of 2006, the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 4,976 foreign-born immigrants live in Valle d'Aosta, equal to 4.0% of the total regional population.

External links




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