The best running trails around Hône

Beautiful bridge connecting Hone to Bard. Magnificent view of the fort.

Arch on the Via Francigena, just beyond the town of Donnas, also visible from the SS 26.

While traveling along the Via Francigena, on the stretch from Arnad to Bard, you cross this characteristic three-arched pedestrian bridge. On the left orogr. area with a bench for rest.

The Roman road of the Gauls, built to connect Rome with the Rhone Valley, has in the Donnas section one of its most characteristic and spectacular points, carved out of the living rock over a length of 221 metres. In a place where in ancient times the rocky promontory plunged into the waters of the Dora, the Romans launched a real challenge to nature by carving out a living rock on which they could draw perfectly vertical walls and in whose bosom they cut the roadbed. Exciting and unusual, here the Via delle Gallie gives its best by offering the spectacle of a vaulted passage 4 metres thick, 4 metres high and almost 3 metres wide that eloquently illustrates the amount of rock removed and shows all the refinement of a road engineering never again achieved until viaducts and modern tunnels. In the Middle Ages it served as a gate to the village, which was closed at night; The other defences were of course: on one side the mountain and on the other the river. A fundamental road, much used over the centuries, as evidenced by the deep ruts left by the passage of carts and the wear of the walking surface that has been patched and repaired at various points over time. A little further on, on the right, we recognise the excellent profile of a milestone, also spared in the rocky bank, which informs us of the distance to Augusta Praetoria (the current city of Aosta): XXXVI miles (about 54 km).

The origin of this bridge is uncertain, but it was probably built in Roman times. The first documents mentioning this bridge date from the second half of the 13th century. From 1272 onwards, the bridge was called Hôhne Bridge or Bard Bridge in Latin and then in Old French. Apart from its history, the bridge is a beautiful photo point of Fort Bard.

In addition to many temporary exhibitions, often aimed at promoting and learning about the culture and territory of the Aosta Valley and the Alps, the Forte di Bard includes three permanent museums. 1.) On the top floor is the Museum of the Alps. Here the secrets of the mountain have been presented through a multimedia path and interactive installations. A truly worthwhile and informative museum!!! 2.) A second museum room is dedicated to the prisons of the fort, twenty-four narrow cells (1.3 x 2 meters) distributed in four areas and accessed from a gallery decorated with historical prints and paintings that tell the story of the building. 3.) Finally, the Fortress and Border Museum of the Opera Ferdinando offers a journey through the history of the Bard through a parade of historical and plastic weapons, including scale models of defensive structures and miniature armies. Source: https://www.visititaly.eu/it/luoghi-e-itinerari/cosa-vedere-a-bard-borgo-in-valle-aosta

For example, take a look at the Palazzo Nicole, the building you can see when you look up from Porta Courlét. On the facade, the holes caused by the bullets during the siege of 1800 are still visible.

The village of Bard has still preserved the original medieval urban layout. The town, which is part of the circuit of the most beautiful villages in Italy, presents itself to the eyes of visitors as a wedding gift, little worn by time. The Via Vittorio Emanuele II is the main street that crosses the town and leads up to the fortress. Along the square there is a series of ancient buildings, some of which are of particular historical importance, which tell in their own way of the vicissitudes of the village. Source: https://www.visititaly.eu/it/luoghi-e-itinerari/cosa-vedere-a-bard-borgo-in-valle-aosta