The best walks and hikes around Lake Verney

Lake Verney Superiore, the younger brother of Lake Verney, is the largest natural fishing reserve in the Aosta Valley, at 2,283 meters above sea level. The path that leads to this place offers a breathtaking view of the surrounding alpine clearings.

The Piccolo San Bernardo hill is located at over 2,100 meters above sea level and connects the Italian valley of La Thuile with the French Val d'Isère. The pass is the lowest alpine pass in the north-western Alps and, also for this reason, it has been frequented since ancient times. In fact, the Via delle Gallie passes through here, the first public work created by the Romans in the Aosta Valley dating back to the 1st century BC.

The "Via delle Gallie" retraces the road that the Romans built in the Aosta Valley at the end of the 1st century BC. It is still practicable today from Pont-Sanit-Martin to the Great San Bernardo. In the pretty village of Pont Serrand you can still see the remains of the ancient road. Just beyond the town, on the short stretch of state road, you cross the Dora di Verney. The bridge over which you pass today stands on the same point where the Romans had built their infrastructure of which you can see evidence by looking on the orographic right of the river.

Lake Tormotta is located in the moraine area between Col d'Arguerey and Mount Miravidi and enjoys an excellent view of the Mont Blanc chain. Near Lake Tormotta you can also admire other smaller alpine lakes.

The Piccolo San Bernardo Pass is an incredible concentration of history and high mountain nature. A place of passage for pilgrims, traders and armies since ancient times, it today preserves evidence of various eras. A true place of memory.

Pont-Serrand and Orgères At 1630 meters above sea level along the Via delle Gallie which went up from Ariolica (La Thuile) to Alpis Graia (Piccolo San Bernardo Pass) there is the village of Pont Serrand. The toponym explains its position near a deep gorge cut by the waters of the Dora di Verney stream which the Romans already crossed with a wooden bridge of which traces have now been lost. At the entrance to the village there is the chapel dedicated to Saints Bernardo and Maurizio. The presence of various houses, mills, stables, a guard post, accommodation and refreshments for travellers, testify to how the life of the village was closely linked to transit to and from the hill. Travellers, pilgrims, traders but also troops and armies have passed through here. It is no coincidence that just above Pont Serrand, at the entrance to the Vallon de Chavannes in the Orgères area, there is an archaeological site which is the subject of excavation and study campaigns by the University of Turin. In this strategic place, a high-altitude settlement was brought to light whose masonry structures date back to a period between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. These were then incorporated into the foundations of a late medieval house-fort and subsequently into a defensive line of more modern age. Documents and studies carried out on the many finds discovered have made it possible to establish that Orgères was a permanent and non-seasonal settlement: people lived there all year round, cattle and sheep and goats were raised, cheese was made, wool and fabrics were worked and the metal.

Lake Verney is the largest natural alpine lake in the Aosta Valley. Of glacial origin, it is located at 2,088 m above sea level, between the Bec des Rousses, the promontory of the Piccolo San Bernardo, and Mount Chaz Dura. The shores of the lake are colonized by hygrophilous vegetation that includes prized botanical varieties such as eriophilous grasses, sedges and rushes as well as sphagnum, a typical species of peat bogs. On the sides, the work of nature has left morainic deposits rich in springs, a perfect habitat for primroses and saxifrages. In a distant time, over 2,000 years ago, the Salassi people considered these waters sacred: they were used to bless the fields, unions and children, to propitiate a fruitful summer or a benevolent winter. When the Salassi leaders returned victorious from a battle, they offered the swords of their fallen adversaries to Graio, the god of war and rocks, as a sign of thanks. Today, Lake Verney is a favorite destination for many tourists as well as a fishing reserve. You can walk around its entire perimeter with a comfortable walk of about 45 minutes and by climbing further you can reach the Upper Lake Verney in about half an hour.

The history of the Chanousia Alpine botanical garden is linked to the figure of Abbé Chanoux. An expert mountaineer and great natural science enthusiast, he founded the garden with the aim of cultivating some of the most beautiful and most endangered alpine plant species, so that people could admire them and learn to know and respect them. The garden is located in French territory and covers an area of approximately 10,000 m2.