The Alps of Piedmont, Aosta Valley and Lombardy

Piedmont

A region so close to France!

Close by its language: Piedmontese being well imbued with French or Occitan words.

Then close by a shared History, that of Savoy.

Turin was the first capital of Italy when the unification of the country was proclaimed in 1861, before being transferred to Rome ten years later.

And for good reason, Turin was the place of residence of the House of Savoy which was to reign over Italy for a little less than a century and which had made it its capital after leaving Chambéry in the 1th century and the French occupation of François XNUMX^er (Savoy was not part of the Kingdom of France at that time). Hence the very strong links between Piedmont and Savoy… and practically the same coat of arms.

Finally, a geographical proximity, since several passes, road or rail tunnels now allow you to go from Italy to France by crossing Piedmont along the French Alpine border along the departments of Savoie, High mountains, Alpes de Haute Provence or Alpes Maritimes.

Le Piedmont is nevertheless a region in its own right in Italy: gastronomy and good wine go well together and from Turin, the cultural centre radiating over the Region, it is good to walk in all the valleys which plunge into the Alps and to taste the local specialities of the region.

Drink a “Bicerin” – a chocolate and coffee specialty – in Turin, eat a “Bagna Cauda” in Cuneo, drink a good glass of Barbera or Barolo in the hills of the Langhe south of Turin, and taste the famous Piedmont hazelnuts, ingredient of a famous spread, made in this region near Alba, also known for its truffles… or simply taste the famous Risotto in the rice fields around Novara, at the foot of Monte Rosa.

We will be able to discover the Occitan Valleys of the province of Cuneo (Coni) which run alongside our departments of the Alpes Maritimes and the Alpes de Haute Provence, with the tourist resorts less known to the French of Limone Piemonte, Prato Nevoso, Casteldelfino, etc… which are extremely well snowed in.

Or leave Turin by the West and return to France via the Fréjus tunnel, the Montcenis pass or the Montgenèvre pass, passing through the high mountain places of Sestriere or Bardonecchia. But a region so rich in wonders cannot be summed up in just a few lines.

The Aosta Valley

La Aosta Valley is a valley that begins at the foot of the Mont Blanc (Italian side, of course) and which ends in the Po plain; at the bottom flows a river, the Dora Baltea, which bathes its capital, Aoste.

Several rivers from the side valleys with very French names feed this river with resorts such as La Thuile (connected to the Savoyard resort of La Rosière), Valsavarenche, Valgrisenche, Cogne to the south and Gressoney and its Lys valley, Chamois, Breuil-Cervinia and its valtournenche to the north, to name just a few.

This small valley is surrounded by peaks over 4000m high: Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, the Mount Rose and the Grand Paradis are part of it.

Some viewpoints, such as Pila, a natural balcony above the city of Aosta, easily accessible by cable car, are breathtaking.

The valley has been a place of passage in summer for many centuries since it provides access to the Petit and Grand Saint Bernard passes, the first joining France via Savoie, and the second Switzerland via the Valais.

Italian is spoken there, of course, but the region is bilingual: French is also spoken. In addition to this, in the Gressoney Valley, Alemannic dialects are also spoken, similar to those spoken in the Zinal and Saas Fee valleys in the Upper Valais in Switzerland, on the other side of the border mountains. Moreover, this very special identity is also found in the architecture, since the houses in the Gressoney Valley are mostly made of wood, while elsewhere stone dominates. This is the heritage of the Walsers.

What is the giant of these two regions? Is it Monte Viso, which can be seen from the plains south of Turin, or is it the Mont Blanc, a giant of Europe, and the Matterhorn, whose profile is universally known because it is the emblem of the Toblerone brand, which dominate the Aosta Valley?…

Well, no, the giant here is Monte Rosa, visible from the Po Valley from the gates of Turin to those of Milan when the fog does not hide it. And it is around Monte Rosa that we find a certain number of ski resorts in winter and hiking resorts in summer: Gressoney in the Aosta Valley, but also Alagna-Valsesia and Macugnaga in Piedmont to the north of Turin, in the direction of another major passage axis, the Simplon Pass.

Lombardy.

When you go back up north from Milan or Bergamo, you first come across the Alpi Orobie which peak at 3000m, the first rampart against disturbances coming from the South, and well watered throughout the year. There you will find two emblematic valleys, the Val Brembana and the Val Seriana which ends with the ski resort of Valbondone.

Behind this first mountain range hides a very long valley, the Valtellina.

It ends where the Adda River flows into Lake Como, near Colico, and then runs up the Adda River for over 100km to beyond Bormio on the edge of the Stelvio National Park. This east-west oriented valley, protected from the north winds by the high Bernina massif (which descends on the Swiss side towards Saint Moritz and the Engadine), and from the south rains by the Alpi Orobie, forms an excellent terroir in its central part at a modest altitude for vineyards producing some quite famous wines (Rosso di Valtellina, Grumello, Sassello), which can be explored by following the local wine route.

When we talk about wine, there is also necessarily good food, and this is the case here, in Lombardie, including “Pizzoccheri”, a pasta specialty that you won’t be able to taste anywhere else, made with buckwheat flour. Obviously, several sauces can accompany them, but traditionally here, they are mixed with vegetables (cabbage, chard, spinach, rocket, potatoes, cheese and butter…). A “poor dish” that is ultimately extremely rich!

For lovers of mountain scenery, the villages of Bormio and Santa Caterina ValfurvaDominated by the Cevedale and Ortles massifs, which reach altitudes of around 3800m, await you at the very bottom of the valley.

Chiesa in Valmalenco offers you access to the glaciers of Monte Disgrazia, Roseg, Bernina and Piz Palu'.

The town of Tirano is the gateway to the Val Poschiavo (in Switzerland) which goes up towards the Bernina Pass and towards the Engadine, or towards the valley of Livigno, in summer.

The latter is accessible in winter only via Bormio and a pass at almost 2300 metres, making it the most landlocked of all the Italian valleys.

Little Siberia, nicknamed because of the extremely freezing temperatures reached in winter, offers visitors a calm and bucolic landscape, and its main village Livigno which stretches for several kilometers (yes, you read that right) along a road offers beautiful accommodation choices in its beautiful wooden chalets, and many shopping opportunities, the area being Duty Free.

Livigno is a renowned winter resort, snow-covered from November to the end of April, a high-altitude training ground (1800m) for Italian cross-country skiers, and with a ski area on two slopes that allows you to always ski in the sun. A must-see!

If you want to leave Valtellina towards Italy (the Bernina Pass, giving access to Switzerland), you have the choice between the Aprica Pass, well urbanized by the presence on the site of the pass itself of a winter sports resort, at an altitude of 1200 meters, which will make you go back down towards the Val Camonica, the last great valley of Lombardy, but you can also, in summer only, attempt the ascents of the Gavia Pass (2621m) or the Stelvio (2757m). By bike for the bravest!

The Val Camonica, north of Brescia and Lake Iseo, oriented North-South along the Oglio river, and dominated by the snows of Mount Adamello (3554m) allows you to go up to the gates of Trentino, via the Tonale pass, a ski resort, with little charm but well snowed at the foot of the Presanella glacier.

The lakes

Piedmont, Lombardy, like their neighbor Veneto, are also famous for their large lakes.

Let them be as vast as the lake maggiore or lac de garde, or narrow as a fjord like the Como lake or Lugano (Lago Ceresio), or smaller ones like the lakes of Orta, Brianza, Iseo or Idro, they are all spectacular, photogenic and worth a visit for their natural beauty or to admire the large villas or other sumptuous monuments that enrich their banks.

They are the subject of a other article which you can read in the Blog.

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