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Aosta Valley · Aosta Valley

Aymavilles

A village at 646 metres above a river gorge, where the road up the valley begins and a Roman aqueduct still crosses the Grand'Eyvia on a single arch.

Best time
May–Oct
By car
1 h 46 min from Turin
Population
2,096

Known for

  • FOUR-TOWERED CASTLE

    Castle on a thirteenth-century core, given its four corner towers by Aimone di Challant in the fourteenth century and a baroque overlay in the eighteenth.

  • PONT D'AËL

    Roman aqueduct from 3 BC, single arch 56 metres above the Grand'Eyvia, with a covered pedestrian passage running beneath the water channel.

  • TORRETTE

    Centre of the Torrette DOC, with the Cave des Onze Communes (1990) drawing on more than sixty hectares of terraced vineyards above the Dora Baltea.

When to visit

Best · May–Oct

  • J7°
  • F11°
  • M11°
  • A14°
  • M20°
  • J25°
  • J29°
  • A29°
  • S23°
  • O19°
  • N13°
  • D8°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Cristo Re, 24 November

Why come

The village sits on the right bank of the river, eight kilometres west of Aosta, at the point where a side valley opens toward the Gran Paradiso massif. The name traces to Caius Avilius Caimus, the Roman from Padua who commissioned the aqueduct-bridge over the Grand'Eyvia, so the settlement's identity is bound to that gorge crossing rather than to the castle that later came to dominate its skyline. Around the castle the ground has been given over to terraced vineyards, the fruit of which the Cave des Onze Communes, the region's largest cooperative, draws in from this slope and from the neighbouring communes of Sarre, Saint-Pierre and Introd.

The result is a village organized around two axes that rarely overlap: one running up toward the national park and the high side valley, the other lying flat along the river terraces where the vines are grown. What holds Aymavilles together is less a single monument than this position at a threshold, a place people pass through on the way to the high valley or use as the working ground for wine that is drunk elsewhere.

The Sunday letter

Aymavilles is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Aymavilles comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Aymavilles in our articles

How to get there

From Turin (TRN), about 1h 43m by car.

Milan (BGY) is about 3 hours away.

By car from the centre of Genoa 3 hours.

Every town within reach of Turin airport.

Aymavilles, photo 1
Aymavilles, photo 2

What to see

  • Castello di Aymavilles

    The rectangular medieval core is still legible beneath the additions: Aimone di Challant's four towers give the building its silhouette from the valley road, while the eighteenth-century decoration softens the fortress into a residence.

  • Pont d'Aël

    The arch carries the water channel across the gorge on a single span, and the covered passage beneath it can still be walked, putting a visitor directly under the old aqueduct bed with the torrent below.

  • Cave des Onze Communes

    Largest wine cooperative in Valle d'Aosta, open since 1990, working over sixty hectares of vineyards around Sarre, Saint-Pierre, Introd and Aymavilles.

  • Vigneti del Torrette

    Terraced vineyards on the slopes around the castle, the heart of the Torrette DOC red wine area, walkable by foot and by bicycle.

  • Ingresso Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso

    Northern gateway to Italy's first national park (1922), with the road up the Cogne Valley starting just above the village toward the Gran Paradiso massif.

  • Chiesa parrocchiale di Saint-Léger

    Parish church in the centre of the village, dedicated to Saint Leodegar, with a Romanesque bell tower preserved from the medieval church.

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Living here

  • Population 2,096
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Nearest airport Turin, 1 h 43 min drive
  • Regional capital Aosta, 22 min drive

Common questions

What is Aymavilles known for?
Aymavilles is a village at 646 metres above a river gorge, where the road up the valley begins and a Roman aqueduct still crosses the Grand'Eyvia on a single arch.
Where is Aymavilles?
Aymavilles is a comune in the province of Aosta Valley, in Aosta Valley.
What is the nearest airport to Aymavilles?
Turin (TRN), about 1h 43m by car.
How long is the drive from Genoa to Aymavilles?
About 3 hours by car.
When is the best time to visit Aymavilles?
Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 17 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Aymavilles?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: Cristo Re, 24 November.
Which other towns are like Aymavilles?
Villar San Costanzo, Sepino and Scurcola Marsicana.
How many people live in Aymavilles?
2,096 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 646 m
  • Population: 2,096
  • Surface area: 53.24 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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