In Valle d'Aosta, twelve years ago...

How are you, friends of COMMA 2 around the world and in the multicolored Italian regions? Are we getting vaccinated or are we scheduled to do so? Who knows what next summer will be like, even from our point of view of accessible tourism. In the meantime, we continue to dig into the trunk of memories and to re-propose itineraries from a few years ago. Today we want to retrace our stay in August 2009 in Valle d'Aosta, where we went by car and went around based in a hotel in Courmayeur. This means that our range of action was mainly concentrated on the western part of the region, however, very rich in landscapes, villages and castles to see. At the time we moved with the manual wheelchair, today with the Triride we would certainly have a different approach; certainly many things have changed since then, starting with the Mont Blanc cable car, on which Adele was able to get on at the time only because the staff lifted her to overcome the steps at the departure station. So we chose to go from pole to branch, illustrating the places that we were then able to visit and which, we imagine, remained accessible to us even after twelve years. In this regard, if you want to deepen some of the ideas that we offer you, there is a nice accessible tourism site in Valle d'Aosta: https://www.valledaosta-guidaturistica.it/turismo-accessibile/ So let's start with that little jewel that is Lake of Pellaud, in the Val di Rhemes:

the small village of Avise, with its castle:

Mont Blanc and the Giant's Tooth:

the Alpine Garden of Chanousia: to visit it you have to cross over to France from the Little Saint Bernard:

the Aymanvilles Castle, seen from the road:

our base city, Courmayeur:

Two valleys branch off from Courmayeur: Val Ferret, where you can also drive along the Dora di Ferret by car:

and Val Veny, with the Dora di Veny:

the Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta, in Morgex:

two other castles on the fly, the Castle of Saint Pierre and that of Sarriod de la Tour:

and after a visit to the Lillaz waterfalls, easily reachable by our means:

we allow ourselves a stop in Cogne, with these beautiful wooden sculptures placed there to decorate the streets:

now we really need a visit to Aosta with its Roman remains, starting from Porta Pretoria:

the Arch of Augustus:

the Roman Bridge:

and then the five-hundred-year-old lime tree in the Collegiate Church of Sant'Orso:

and we close the visit to Aosta with the Cathedral, built in the 11th century and remodeled in the following centuries:

a detour in Valgrisenche, with this colorful church and the delightful village, where you can buy fine yarns:

a very popular attraction is the very panoramic Forte di Bard, both for the beauty and grandeur of the structure and for the numerous exhibitions and cultural initiatives that are held there continuously; moreover the Fort is well equipped with an internal funicular to move from one level to another:

and under the fort the medieval village of Bard:

and the tunnels? Of course we did them, starting with Mont Blanc, which brought us to Chamonix in France:

and during the quick visit to Chamonix we also managed to see the Mineral Museum:

while, on the other hand, with the Gran San Bernardo tunnel we arrived in Switzerland in Martigny to eat fondue bourguignonne:

and on the way back we pass through Saint Rhemy-en-Bosses, home of a special ham:

and we close our Valle d'Aosta with yet another beautiful castle, the Castle of Sarre:

We have reached the end of our tour in the Valle d'Aosta which lasted two weeks in which we "crammed" as many things as possible. The roads, even if in the mountains, were quite easy and in addition there is the A5 motorway which allows you to cut across the entire region by moving from one area to another. Of course, after twelve years we cannot remember the restaurants visited and their accessibility, but in general we have the impression of excellent cuisine widespread in the area and at affordable prices. We hope then that some of you can communicate your experiences in the valley, both gastronomic and tourist in general, and that maybe these experiences can be done this summer, in complete tranquility. HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!