Less than two hours driving northwest
of Milan, the Gressoney Valley is one of several Italian and
Swiss valleys that lead up to the gigantic Monte Rosa and surrounding
massif; at 4,634 meters Monte Rosa is the second-highest mountain
in Europe.
Gressoney is part
of the Aosta Valley province, an autonomous Italian province with
a diverse historical legacy. While French is widely spoken throughout
the region, in Gressoney and a few neighboring valleys German (or
more accurately the Tisch dialect) is the mother tongue. This is
so because from the 12th - 13th centuries a Germanic tribe known
as the Walsers moved south from Switzerland and settled in the valley.
The Walsers had been active traders even before they peopled the
valley, carting their goods over mountain passes a thousand years
before the invention of Gore-Tex. Their tracks can still be followed
today: a day hike along one stretch of the "Walser Trail" is described
below.
