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Located in the Opera Ferdinando on the first level of the Fortress, this museum offers an exciting journey into the evolution of defence techniques, blockade systems and the ‘border’ concept.
The need to provide further historical information and material regarding the site and the Fortress was the starting point of a project that later revealed the need to expand this itinerary of knowledge – both in terms of time and space – to include the configuration of the 19th century Fort into the history of fortification systems in view of the Alps as a physical boundary, obstacle, natural barrier, mobile frontier, territory and a political border where people have lived, crossed, explored, defended and fortified throughout the centuries.

The museum is organised in three separate sections:

• ”Fortress Museum and Defensive Walls”
• ”The Fortified Alps (1871-1946)”
• ”The Alps, a frontier?”

Fortress Museum and Defensive Walls
A tour of this first section outfitted in the Opera Ferdinando Superiore makes it possible for guests to fully experience a series of historical settings furnished with models, film clips and authentic weapons. The narrative development highlights the evolution of forts in the Western Alps through the progression of military weapons and strategies as well as construction materials and techniques from the time of the Romans up to the new architectural and ballistic solutions of the 20th century.
Guests are launched into a different era as they go from room to room thanks to explanatory devices enhanced by original maps and clips of famous film sequences of war scenes such as: Kingdom of Heaven (Ridley Scott, 2005); Masada (Boris Sagal, 1981); The Profession of Arms (Ermanno Olmi, 2001); Alatriste (Augustin Diaz Yanks, 2006); The Last Valley (James Clavell, 1971); Revolution (Hugh Hudson, 1985); The Last of the Mohicans ( Michael Mann, 1992); Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989); Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella, 2003).

The Fortified Alps (1871-1946)
The second portion of the museum is located in the Opera Ferdinando Inferiore and is dedicated to the transformations that took place between the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Bard Fortress is included in the system of 19th century forts and is presented through scenic reconstructions and scale models for the purpose of the highlighting the most representative traits of forts found throughout the Alps and to showcase these mountains as the very stage for the technological transformation that has made them “the Italian frontier”. A tale of the evolution of fortresses through the progression of weapons (and vice-versa). The change in construction materials and techniques, the gradual thickening of the walls, the placement of forts in areas that had become increasingly dominant as well as the development of strategic methods and architectural solutions. All of this is constantly linked to the offensive ability of the enemy and the possibility of a break through on the part of blockading armies.
The question of militarized mountains is explored in the sections dedicated to the First and Second World Wars and the Resistance, enhanced by the evocative impact provided by a multi-media approach.

The Alps, a frontier?
The third and final section asks a question that puts visitors in the condition of thinking about the itinerary they have just concluded and the true meaning of the term “frontier”: boundary or barrier? Obstacle or bridge?
The exhibit itinerary articulates and conveys a complex and well-structured view of the Bard Fortress as well as a historical, social, cultural and geo-political context that includes perspectives from different historical eras: a journey into the past which ends with an extremely timely reflection upon our own days.
In this way, guests become the main players in the exchange with the place they are visiting. They are on a quest for the identity of the constantly evolving Alps – the crossroads of great events of the past as well as the history of mankind made up of simple actions and memories.

Located on the first floor of the Opera Carlo Alberto , the most important building of the spectacular Bard Fortress compound, the Museum of the Alps is an interactive, multimedia and multidisciplinary journey, an avant-garde museum space telling the story of a living, breathing mountain transformed in the hands of mankind.
The exhibition space consists of twenty-nine rooms divided into four parts, involving the visitor in the discovery of the Alps through short video projections outlining the themes covered in each of the four sections and narrated by four specialists: a naturalist, a geographer, an anthropologist and a meteorologist.
Tradition and modern technology are fused together to take you on a voyage into time and space where the sets are brought alive through visual projections, sounds and interactive multimedia games. A process of discovery in which the visitor becomes the protaganist like the leading character in an exciting novel and is called upon to use all the five senses, offering an extremely enjoyable learning experience that plunges you deep into the alpine culture.

The journey begins with an ascent to the summit, and images of highland scenery. The heart-warming ‘‘mountain symphony’‘ accompanies you around the museum.

Touch the altitude : the introduction is an inviting video installation by artist Armin Linke that creates the visions and sounds of the pastures, tunnels, slopes and high-tech skiers. ‘‘Saliamo in montagna!’‘ (’‘Up we go!’‘) is the invitation in the ‘‘gallery of voices’‘: a kaleidoscope of Alpine languages, welcoming you to the museum.

Listen to the passing seasons : it makes you feel like stroking the legendary Dahu, the animal with two short legs to adapt to the mountain slopes, former evidence of the amazing biodiversity of the alpine environment. Clips, 3D models, short films and touch screens show you the climate, the short highland seasons, the plants and the tenacious inhabitants of the mountains.

Fly like an eagle among the peaks : a 3D video carries the visitor on the breathtaking flight of the eagle from the summit of Mount Blanc, over the picturesque landscape of Val d’Aosta, among glaciers, waterfalls and castles, over the fortress in Bard.

Walk on the Tethys Ocean : the geography room has a spectacular interactive map which takes you on a walk through the Alps; the most famous and spectacular summits are represented in the orogeny room, a journey back in time, among the lava explosions generated by fire and the marine undertows that gave rise to the Dolomites.

Dance in a carnival of voices and colours : the reconstruction of the stable, the parlour, the school and several interactive films tell the story of Alpine civilisation and the culture linked to work, the mill and the mine. Then get involved in a joyful dance celebration at the end of winter, festivals and colourful mountain carnival, ‘‘lanzette’‘ processions - typical Val d’Aosta masks - or in the dances of the ‘‘wild man’‘.

Conquer the summit like a mountain climber : lastly, a journey into the romantic experience of nineteenth-century mountaineers, on the quest for the impenetrable summits, and then a train trip with ski tourists ready to take to the slopes. A multiform mountain to be discovered and experienced with a passion.

A multimedia tale : the voice of a ‘‘witness’‘, the naturalist, the geographers, the anthropologist, the meteorologist relates the theme of 6 sections of the museum from a screen in every room.

A symphony of sounds and colours : video projections and sounds give life to the scenery, reconstructions, multimedia and interactive games to educate, amuse and immerge in Alpine culture. These videos guide visitors through this fascinating exploration.

Imagine stepping into a place where science meets emotion, where the mountains of the Aosta Valley tell in their own voice their millennial history and their fragility in the face of change.

The Museum The Alps for Kids, housed within the Opera Vittorio at the Forte di Bard, is an immersive journey into the heart of the Alps, designed for schools, families and nature enthusiasts. It is a path that invites reflection on climate change and its effects on alpine ecosystems: glacier retreat, diminished snow cover, rising temperatures and the transformations these bring.

From the moment you enter, a large geodesic tent welcomes visitors in an immersive atmosphere of sounds, images and lights: here one receives the first “coordinates” to begin exploration. The path then unfolds through different halls, each dedicated to one of the four symbolic peaks of the Aosta Valley - Monte Rosa, Matterhorn, Gran Paradiso and Mont Blanc - and their glacial zones.

In the Monte Rosa Hall, space seems made of ice and light: transparent stelae evoke the fragility of the alpine cryosphere, guiding visitors to discover the water cycle and glacier formation. A large ice core reveals how researchers read climate history within the ice.

The Matterhorn Hall delves into permafrost and alpine orogenesis, intertwined with the strength of rocks and their constant transformation. Then, unexpectedly, a snowstorm envelops visitors in a sensory experience marking the passage from the mountain of ice to life.

The Gran Paradiso Hall is an immersion in nature: sounds, objects and projections narrate the rhythm of the seasons, while an interactive table leads to the discovery of the animals and plants that inhabit Italy’s oldest national park. Finally, in the Mont Blanc Hall, visitors face the major changes the Alps are undergoing: rising temperatures and glacier melt.

Two special spaces enrich the visit: a game room for schools, where youngsters compete in a role-playing game about mountain resources, surrounded by the warming stripes of climatologist Ed Hawkins - a visual representation of global warming - and an immersive room to relax and enjoy Alpine panoramas.

Outside, the journey continues in the open air: a playground for children, a climbing wall shaped to resemble the profile of Monte Rosa, and a picnic area round out this experience of discovery and wonder, combining nature, science and emotion.

Located within the Carlo Alberto Building , the cramped cells of the Bard fortress in which prisoners were held, house today a history tour that leads visitors on the search for the story behind this military site, a centuries-old strategic transition point. Through films, documents and evocative 3D reconstructions, visitors can familiarise themselves with the architectural development of the fortress and know the individuals who characterised its main historical events from the year 1000, through its reconstruction in 1830, to the present day.
Visitor’s tour
The Prisons are comprised of 24 cells, all extremely small in size (around 1.3 × 2 metres), arranged along four sections and preceded by an entrance gallery which was dedicated to the iconographic representation of the Fort: The atrium screens a film about the complex restoration and reconstruction work performed on the Fort between 1996 and 2006.
From here, the visitor enters four rooms of the first section , where different stations characterised by three-dimensional models represent the Fort’s transformation through the various epochs: Roman, Medieval, 1500s and 1600s, and 1700s. In the subsequent spaces, a film gives voice to those who experienced one of the most important historical episodes in the history of the Fort: the siege of Napoleon’s troops.
In the second section , Napoleon Bonaparte, the French general Berthier, and the Austrian captain Bernkopf, reveal the offensive and defensive strategies of the bitter battle fought in the spring of 1800. The tour is enlivened by projections of drawings from the topographer and painter Pietro Bagetti, and by the writings of Stendhal, privileged witnesses to the Bard history.
The third part of the tour presents the testimony of the captain of the Military Engineering services, Francesco Antonio Olivero, to whom Charles Felix of Savoy had entrusted the reconstruction of the Fort after Napoleon’s passing. Images and documents are projected inside a cell: an 1829 relief of the Fort and a project from 1830 show how Olivero exploited all the strategic peculiarities of the location, designing many overlapping buildings in order to increase lines of fire. The works were completed in just eight years.
The fourth section ’s protagonist is Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, luxury ‘prisoner’ during the reconstruction. In 1831, he was tasked with overseeing the works: despite the fact that the task would have elicited enthusiasm in anyone else, for Cavour it was a punishing experience, a ‘moral prison’ that he later defined as ‘exile’. Within the section there are also several objects from daily life in the Fort. A set recreates the typical atmosphere of a cell, while a panelling on a wall shows the garrisons which were stationed one after another at the Fort and the reproductions of several paintings by Quinto Cenni. On two screens, a film made in collaboration with the Archive of the Military Engineering of Rome allows visitors to discover the results of research regarding the soldiers present in the Fort over the years.
In the last room, the decline and rebirth of the Fort during the course of the 1900s is retraced by means of an interview with Ferdinando Jacquemet, a living witness able to recount the last chapter of the Bard story. The tour concludes with the projection of an animation tracing the development of military settlements within the Bard Fort from the year 1000 to the present day.
The tour is combined with the opportunity to participate in four teaching workshops , conducted depending on the age of the students, from infant school to lower secondary school.

Built in Turin by order of Club Alpino Italiano, disassembled and transported on foot to Mount Cervino in 1893 and then reassembled at 3840m above sea level along Cresta del Leone, the Capanna was named after Prince Luigi Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi, on account of his numerous Alpine adventures.
It was given to the Society of Cervino Mountain Guides by the CAI in 1995, and was a refuge for the great names in mountaineering before giving way in 1968 to the newer and larger Jean Antoine Carrel hut, built about ten metres below it.
Landslides in 2003 on Mount Cervino almost destroyed the Capanna and, in order to safeguard its integrity and turn it into a historical monument, the Society of Cervino Mountain Guides decided to remove it. It was disassembled on the spot during the summer of 2004, and was then transported to the valley, reassembled and located in the courtyard of the Society, so that it could become a museum of the history of mountaineering and testify the memories of all those that have experienced it. In 2009, with the opening of the new Cervino Mountain Guides’s office in Breuil Cervinia, the hut was situated in the adjacent area.
It was built using wooden planks and, considering the irregularity of the axes, the main face shows how the Capanna was founded and perfectly adapted to the rocky terrain, which is also evident on the wood beneath the sheet metal roof.
The faces covered in sheet metal were positioned north and east for obvious reasons of thermal insulation, as they are not exposed to the sun.
The windows on the façades, originally exposed to the south and to the west, are small, in order to allow as little heat dispersion as possible.
The Capanna slept 10 people on two large wooden boards covered in horsehair mattresses.
The wooden interior was heated using a small stove, with the external part of the chimney facing downwards so that the snow would not block it and prevent uptake.

The Matterhorn Mountain Guides Museum is set up in the Franco Oberti room, on the first floor of the head office of the Matterhorn Alpine Guides Society.

Created with the contribution of the Amici del Cervino Club, it shows the history of the Matterhorn mountain guides and their memorable feats from 1865 onwards with an eye towards the future.

Videos on display and possibility to visit the Capanna Luigi Amedeo di Savoia located outside.

This exhibition of equipment and photographs is held at Plateau Rosà, 3500 metres above sea level, and tells the story of the great efforts of our forefathers to build the Plateau Rosà and Furggen cableways.

The site is temporarily closed

In the final years of the 19th century, Joseph Herbet was the director of the “Fenilliaz and Chamousira gold mines” under the employment of the English “Evançon Gold Mining Company”.
He became a photography aficionado in those years. He used his 13×18 folding view camera to take portraits of people, families. He photographed places as well and, above all, he captured the mine-related activities that took place in the areas of Brusson and Challand. A portion of his work can be admired at this permanent exhibition.
Photography is an extraordinary tool that is capable of telling us the story of the bygone days. Herbet’s photos offer vivid evidence of the dramatic change in the landscape and the local community during the 20th century.
The Documentation Centre is located in Brusson’s Municipal library .

Visitors must drive along the road leading to Estoul in order to visit the “Chamousira mine”. After 4 kilometres there is a road sign indicating the first footpath (a 15 minute walk) to the mine’s entrance (guided tour).

This parish is mentioned for the first time in the papal bull dated 5th April 1145 with which pope Eugene III took the canons of Saint-Gilles di Verrès under his protection.
The parish church of San Vittore is rectangular in shape and has a single nave. The current church dates back to the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century and was consecrated in 1521. Its construction was financed by the counts of Challant, whose coat of arms may be observed on a keystone above a buttress. The facade was rebuilt in 1670 and has a portico to protect the entrance. The seventeenth century portal in cut and sculpted stone is noteworthy and on the inside, the baroque altars in painted and gilded carved wood, are also interesting. The walnut stalls of the choir may be dated back to the end of the 17th century and bear the coats of arms of many of the noble families from the parish.
With the new direction of the church beginning from the seventeenth century, the bell tower came to find itself behind the apse. Having collapsed in 1755, it was rebuilt in 1762 but it appears to have kept its medieval typology in the lower section.

Challand Art is an art trail with 14 unique works of art, made with natural materials: soil, leaves, wood, stone, iron.

An easy walk in the woods allows you to visit this open-air museum which winds along path no. 11 which connects Lake Villa to Col d’Arlaz (along the stage no. 6 of the Balteo Way Challand-Saint-Victor - Saint-Vincent).