The permanent exhibition “Oyace, Yesterday and Today”, set up in the Linda Gorret Hall, was created with the aim of introducing visitors to the village of Oyace through a perspective that brings together memory and the present. Without claiming to be exhaustive, the exhibition offers an overview of the village that encourages visitors not to forget the past and to observe, with a conscious eye, the transformations that have shaped this small municipality in the Aosta Valley over time.
On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Linda Gorret (Paris 1915 – Aosta 1982), daughter of Valdostan emigrants, a collection of her youthful writings was published, edited by her nephew Federico Zoja. Poems, letters, reflections and travel accounts dating from 1928 to 1940 restore the sensitive and lucid voice of a young woman in search of her roots.
Following in the footsteps of her parents, Linda arrived in Oyace, the birthplace of her grandparents, dedicating to it pages full of emotion and intensity. She describes the village church – where the memorial plaque dedicated to the fallen of the Great War can still be seen today, bearing among the names that of her uncle Jean-Pantaléon Petitjacques – the medieval tower, the enchanting landscapes and the old maternal home, places that become symbols of belonging and identity.
The “pink” dedication of the municipal hall to Linda Gorret highlights the figure of a Valdostan woman endowed with a strong free spirit and a sharp critical sense, at a time when freedom was a privilege of the few. Daughter, wife and mother, Linda was driven by a profound creative nature, expressed through writing, painting and theatre. In her texts, she reflects on her origins, her Franco-Italian identity and the major historical events that were shaking Europe on the eve of the Second World War.
