Bard Fort ( 40 km away) Built by the House of Savoy, this spectacular early 19th century fortress sits high above the mouth of the Aosta Valley and overlooks the town of Bardo. It is made up of three main bodies that span between 400 and 467 meters in height, and it has a total of 283 rooms. Inside the pincer-shaped Ferdinando Opera sits the Museum of Fortifications and Frontiers. Both the rear-facing Mortai Opera and the adjacent Polveriera (meaning ammunition house) host various educational workshops and temporary exhibitions. About halfway up the fortress, the Opera Vittorio hosts the Alphi dei Ragazzi: an interactive tour for children interested in mountaineering.
At the summit of the Opera Carlo Alberto, 24 detention cells make up the fortress’ prison. This summit is easily reachable thanks to the fortress’ innovative panoramic lifts that take tourists from the village of Bardo at the foot of the fort up to the Opera. Bardo has been inhabited for over 4,000 years, with ancient structures still intact, a key example being the Sciovolo Delle Donne (Women’s Slide), a particularly long and lustrous rock slope smoothed over centuries and linked with female fertility.
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