The 10 Best Things to do Good for Big Groups in Valle d'Aosta, Italy

Skyway Monte Bianco is much more than a cableway to reach 3,466 meters. It’s an idea: drawing man closer to the mountain and sky, broadening our horizons, overcoming boundaries. Beautiful landscapes to explore and the sky to meet.

An infinite snowy area that begins at 1,524 metres, in Valtournenche, embraces Breuil-Cervinia, rises up to 3,480 metres of Plateau Rosà, touches the 4,000 m peak of Piccolo Cervino, climbes up to 4,478 m to the top of the Cervino. An area where the infinite snow continues on the Swiss side to Zermatt. An area where the snow is the setting of sport, holidays and fun. The tourism vocation of Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche had it’s beginning more than two hundred years ago. Excursionists and academics were the pioneers of a tourism that united sport, scientific study and intellectual exchange. In 1936, a new Breuil-Cervinia was created. The construction of the first cable car was a cutting-edge work of engineering excellence. The Hotel Gran Baita situated at the foot of the slopes, with the cable car departure station annexed to it, anticipates by over half a century the concept of an integral complex for skiing. Breuil-Cervinia became the Queen of the snow. From sport to cinema, politics and commerce, those who count meet here. Innovation, in Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche, is the key word. New ways to practice sport, new ways to enjoy a holiday, new services to allow more free time. The technology is not limited to the rapid lift systems, but also to the territorial fibre optic network that allows the information to be transmitted in real time. Time and space dimensions have changed thanks to the e-skipass, to the keycard and to the hotel reservation system via the internet. 350 thousands web navigators every month visiting the site to check out the webcams, weather reports, lift status and snow conditions. In Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche, collaboration between the operators in the area guarantees guests quality and state of the art solutions.

Among the most famous of the castles in the Aosta Valley, Fenis strikes visitors with its triumph of towers and crenellated walls. The castle sits on flat ground, which is unusual; Aimone de Challant improved it by building an impressive defensive system, which also features double curtain walls. However, more than being a fortress, the Fenis castle was a prestigious and refined residence: the courtyard and the rooms inside are rich in frescoes - the result of a decorating campaign started by Aimone’s son, Bonifacio in all likelihood. Not to miss is the famous St. George slaying the dragon by Jacquerio and his school, on the stone semicircular courtyard staircase. Many of the furnishings present, which are not original to the castle, were purchased by Alfredo d’Andrade, then Superintendent of Fine Arts, who supervised the restoration work at the end of the nineteenth century thus restoring the castle to its former glory.

Fortress of Bard complex is the protagonist of a wide project aimed at the creation of a cultural pole in the Western Alps of Italy. From impregnable defence for the valley the Fortress has been transformed into a gateway to the Alps’ culture and traditions, with a museum centre in the forefront of the international scenery dedicated to the mountain. Nowadays the Fortress offers only a part of the several activities planned by the project, whose purpose is to bring together innovative cultural spaces, services and accommodation in one single structure. To complete the project, in addition to the Museum of the Alps, The Children’s Alps, and the space for temporary exhibitions, Fortress of Bard will host two other museums (Frontiers Museum; Fortress Museum), an info-point to promote the cultural artistic heritage of Valle d’Aosta Region (already working); a school area provided with a lecture room for lessons, meetings and film projections; two conference rooms; a media centre; historical and thematic paths; a small refined hotel, a restaurant and a café (already working).