La Thuile: heritage in the heart of the Aosta Valley

With only 829 inhabitants, La Thuile represents one of the jewels of tourism in the Aosta Valley. Located in the La Thuile valley, the town is a beloved destination for many tourists, thanks to its proximity to Courmayeur and being surrounded by the highest Alpine peaks in Italy. La Thuile is an ideal destination for families and enthusiasts, offering a balanced mix of sport, culture, entertainment, and gastronomy. As the holiday season comes to an end, this Aosta Valley town is the perfect place to recharge, even for just a few days!

InItaly tells its story for you!

La Thuile: land of snow

Without a doubt, the second westernmost municipality in Italy is favored for its extraordinary ski slopes. A ski area that many experts define as one of the best in Italy, also because it almost always has natural snow.

La Thuile ski area

The Aosta Valley resort offers an international ski-to-ski connection with the French station of La Rosière and is part of the Espace San Bernardo. With a single skipass, it offers 160 km of slopes. The facilities are modern, especially on the Italian side, where there is a cable car with a capacity of 3,000 people per hour, 8 four-seater chairlifts (2 covered), 3 triple chairlifts, 5 ski lifts, and 3 conveyor belts (one covered). Snow coverage is excellent thanks to the considerable altitude of the area, the north-facing slopes, and the efficient artificial snowmaking system. The water used for snowmaking comes from a recently built artificial basin in the Cerellaz area.

Among the alpine ski slopes, the Tre Franco Berthod slope stands out: one of the most difficult in Italy, with a maximum gradient of 73%. The ski resort also excels for the spectacular environment, with views of the Rutor glacier and the Mont Blanc chain.

La Thuile: fun also for the little ones

The Aosta Valley town also caters to children, with the "Thuilly Snow Park." This complex offers a unique opportunity: it allows kids to get familiar with snow and dive into the fun world of inflatables.

Thuilly Snow Park

Snow playground for beginners with several facilities:

• Baby park with inflatables, free, open daily from 10:00 to 16:30
• 2 conveyor belts of 30 m for first turns (free)
• 1 conveyor belt of 100 m for first turns (paid)

The conveyor belts are open daily from 10:00 to 16:30, depending on snow conditions.

And for the grown-ups? La Thuile doesn’t miss a beat. Particularly noteworthy is the Parco Avventura Mont Blanc, a place that offers everyone the chance to live an exciting adventure.

Located just minutes from La Thuile, on the road to Pré-Saint-Didier, this park is immersed in a forest of tall pines and features a series of routes of varying difficulty. Nearby, you can also visit the Pré-Saint-Didier Gorge footbridge, easily reachable in just 10 minutes. At 160 meters high, it offers breathtaking views of the Mont Blanc chain, the Pré-Saint-Didier basin with Champex, Palleusieux, and Verrand, as well as the Orrido waterfall and the thermal spring cave.

For more info: https://parcoavventuramontblanc.com/

Slow steps into history

The strong skiing and sporting vocation tends to overshadow the long and millenary history of La Thuile. The history of this Aosta Valley town is especially linked to the Salassi.

The Salassi, a Celtic tribe of the Aosta Valley, equipped the Little St. Bernard Pass to communicate with their cousins, the Centurions of Tarantasia. It is said that Hannibal’s army also used it to cross the Alps. What is certain is that in 45 B.C., the Romans, under Julius Caesar’s orders, built a road that connected Milan, the imperial capital, to Lyon, the capital of Gaul. This road was called Alpis Graia. In the Middle Ages, part of the route overlapped with the Via Francigena. Since 1900, it has coincided with the SS 26.

Aerial view of the Cromlech of La Thuile

These historical events are supported by testimonies of ancient civilizations at the Little St. Bernard Pass. At the archaeological site of La Thuile, one can admire numerous remains of a past that saw Celts, Salassi, and Romans as protagonists.

This borderland, at 2,200 m altitude, is dominated by the ancestral magic of the Cromlech, one of the rare megalithic circles in Italy. It consists of 46 stones, vertically embedded in the ground at distances of 2 to 4 meters, forming a large circle about 72 meters in diameter, likely dating back to the pre-Celtic period (3000 B.C.). Studies are still ongoing, but it is very likely that, due to its shape and orientation, it served as an astronomical observatory.

La Thuile: land of flavors

The Aosta Valley town also satisfies visitors’ palates with exquisite dishes that provide a delicate and tempting culinary experience.

The most classic menus offer hearty dishes based on game or stewed meat, always accompanied by polenta concia. More refined palates will find satisfaction in gourmet restaurants, where creative recipes reinterpret traditional dishes with innovative culinary refinement.

Typical specialties include:

• Boudin: a sausage with boiled potatoes, diced lard, red beets, spices, natural aromas, and wine
• Motzetta: dried meat of beef, chamois, deer, or wild boar
• Soca: the traditional soup of La Thuile, perfect for cold winter days
• Nettle soup: a unique alternative to the Soca
• Fontina DOP: paired with rustic “campagnarde” potatoes with onions
• Polenta with apples
• Le régal du Petit Berger: a sweet delight for breakfast or a tasty snack

So, what are you waiting for? Leave everything behind and head to La Thuile!