Town & comune · Aosta Valley · Italy

Courmayeur

Courmayeur is a town and comune in northern Italy, in the autonomous region of Aosta Valley, serving as one of the two bases on either side of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain. It lies at the head of the valley, beneath the Italian flank of the Mont Blanc massif, and is one of the best-known Alpine resorts in the country.

At a glance

Type: Town and comune; Alpine resort
Period: Historic Alpine settlement; modern resort
Style: Mountain town
Location: Aosta Valley, beneath Mont Blanc, north-western Italy

Overview

Courmayeur is a town and comune in the Aosta Valley, set on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. It is one of the two principal bases flanking the mountain, the highest in Europe. The town is a celebrated centre for Alpine tourism and mountaineering.

History

Courmayeur sits at the upper end of the Aosta Valley, a region crossed since antiquity by routes leading toward the high Alpine passes. Its position beneath Mont Blanc long made it a staging point for travellers and, from the era of early mountaineering, a base for ascents of the massif. The comune grew into one of Italy’s foremost mountain resorts.

What you see

The town is dramatically framed by the Italian flank of the Mont Blanc massif and its glaciers. Around it rise some of the highest peaks in Europe, drawing climbers, skiers and walkers. The setting combines a traditional Alpine townscape with the scale of the surrounding mountains.

Cultural significance

As a gateway to Mont Blanc, Courmayeur holds a central place in the history of Alpine exploration and mountain tourism. Within the autonomous Aosta Valley it embodies the region’s bilingual French-Italian heritage and its strong mountaineering tradition.

Practical information

Address: Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy. For resort facilities, cable-car schedules and seasonal opening hours, check the official local tourism website.

Getting there

Courmayeur is reached along the road running up the Aosta Valley from Aosta, and lies at the Italian end of the Mont Blanc Tunnel connecting Italy with France. The resort is well served by mountain road links.

Sources & resources

Find it on the map

Google Maps See the location on a full map → Street View Walk around the place virtually → OpenStreetMap Free community cartography →

Located at the foot of Mont Blanc, it is the last municipality you meet before arriving in France through the Mont Blanc Tunnel (which connects it to Chamonix); it is crossed by the Dora Baltea, a river that arises from the confluence of two streams, each of which crosses one of the two valleys that can be reached from Courmayeur: Val Ferret and Val Veny. It is about 27 kilometers north-west from Aosta.



It is the westernmost municipality (6 &deg; 48&#39;03 &#39;&#39;) in the Valle d&#39;Aosta region, and the second largest. It is also the only municipality in Italy to border with both France and Switzerland, although there are no transit routes that lead directly to Swiss territory. The landslide of Mont de La Saxe, above the homonymous hamlet and visible also from the hamlets of Entr&egrave;ves and La Palud, is considered one of the most interesting landslides in Italy (8.4 million square meters) and is under observation by geologists around the world, especially after the recent acceleration of its movement. Courmayeur&#39;s popularity was initially linked to thermal tourism in the 17th century, thanks to the four sources of sulphurous water. Towards the second half of the 18th century, exploration and study of the mountains of the Mont Blanc massif began in search of a way to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. After some reconnaissance attempts made by the Geneva mountaineer and naturalist Horace-B&eacute;n&eacute;dict de Saussure together with the guide Jean-Laurent Jordaney, originally from Pr&eacute;-Saint-Didier, the first ascent was made in 1786 on the French side accompanied by the guides Michel Paccard and Jacques Balmat Chamonix.



Courmayeur, together with Chamonix and Zermatt, later became one of the capitals of world mountaineering and was home to the first Alpine guides company in Italy, the Alpine Guides Society of Courmayeur (in French, Soci&eacute;t&eacute; des guides de Courmayeur) in 1850 (formalized however in 1868). During the 19th century, royalty lived there regularly. Since the 20th century, following the construction of ski resorts, it has become one of the most important ski resorts in the Alps. On 23 February 2013 the city council unanimously approved the change of name of the municipality in Courmayeur-Mont- Blanc. The decision should have been ratified through a popular referendum, called by the Regional Council on 1 June 2014, which however did not reach the quorum, therefore the denomination remained unchanged.


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https://culturalheritageonline.com/places/courmayeur-l2177/

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