History of Aosta Valley

The Aosta Valley (Italian: Valle d'Aosta [ˈvalle daˈɔsta] (official) or Val d'Aosta (usual); French: Vallée d'Aoste [vale dɔst][5] (official) or Val d'Aoste (usual); Arpitan: Val d'Outa (usual); Walser: Augschtalann or Ougstalland; Piedmontese: Val d'Osta) is a mountainous autonomous[6] region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, to the west, Valais, Switzerland, to the north and by the Metropolitan City of Turin in the region of Piedmont, Italy, to the south and east. The regional capital is Aosta.

Covering an area of 3,263 km2 (1,260 sq mi) and with a population of about 128,000 it is the smallest, least populous, and least densely populated region of Italy. It is the only Italian region that is not sub-divided into provinces (the province of Aosta was dissolved in 1945).[7] Provincial administrative functions are provided by the regional government. The region is divided into 74 comuni (communes).

Italian and French are the official languages,[1] though much of the native population also speak Valdôtain, a dialect of Arpitan (Franco-Provençal), as their home language; about half of the population can speak all three languages.[8]