You have just entered Aosta Valley and to your right the Gressoney Valley opens up, one of the lengthiest in the region.
Prepare yourself for a varied and entertaining route, on a road that will give you a lot of green and splendid panoramas at the Monte Rosa mountain range. A point of interest: Keep an eye out for characteristic bridges, picturesque and striking ancient stone structures, at the fork of the Lys river.

CUORE WALSER
Wide wooden balcony, large verge…and a lot of flowers, in the windows and on the balconies. If you see houses like these at the side of the road, you have entered Walser “territory”. But the structure of the habitations is not the only idiosyncrasy of the upper Gressoney Valley. There is also an unusual dialect, different from the patois used by most of the people in Aosta Valley: It is Titsch, a parlance of German roots. The population of Walser in fact originates from Valais, from which they migrated, between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, settling here and in the adjacent Ayas Valley. The first Walser island that you encounter upon climbing the the hollow is Issime, village of ancient origins.

THE SAVOY CASTLE AND THE REGIONAL MUSEUM OF ALPINE FAUNA
Two stops in Gressoney-Saint-Jean. The first is the Savoy Castle, which you can see in the pine forest on your left. Completed at the end of the 1800’s by Queen Margherita, passionate mountaineer, stands on a panoramic terrace where you can enjoy a splendid view of the entire valley all the way to the Lyskam glacier. The second stop, a short distance from the castle heading towards Gressoney-La-Trinité, is the “Beck-Peccoz” Regional Museum of Alpine Fauna, a collection unique in its genre of trophies, weapons and antique publications on alpine flora and fauna.