Thematic walks

Chapel of San Sisto

The chapel is located about one kilometre from the hamlet of Melezet, in the locality of Pian del Colle, and can be reached in a few minutes by following a path that starts near the ‘Pian del Colle’ campsite.
The chapel was built on a rocky cliff in the second half of the 15th century and bears important frescoes both inside and outside.
The chapel can be visited all year round in autonomy thanks to the APP ‘Chiese a Porte Aperte’ (‘Open Door Churches’), which allows the automated opening of the entrance door and the triggering of a ‘narrating voice’, combined with a sound and light system.

Chapel of Notre Dame du Coignet

The chapel stands in a small clearing just above the hamlet of Les Arnauds. From the parish church of San Lorenzo, take the road on the left, cross the bridge and walk uphill for about fifteen minutes along the mule track until you reach the chapel.
The building was built in the mid-15th century and enlarged around 1520, and conserves, both outside and inside, significant fresco cycles dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
The chapel can be visited all year round in autonomy thanks to the APP ‘Chiese a Porte Aperte’ (Open Doors Churches), which allows the automated opening of the entrance door and the triggering of a ‘narrating voice’, combined with a sound and light system.

Chapel of Sts Andrew and James

The chapel stands isolated just above the huts of the hamlet of Horres, upstream of the hamlet of Millaures. It is also accessible from the hamlet of Rochas, located on the Jafferau road, by following a path for about twenty minutes.
The building has interesting frescoes dating from around 1530 both inside and outside.
The chapel can be visited all year round in autonomy thanks to the APP ‘Churches at Open Doors’, which allows the automated opening of the entrance door and the activation of a ‘narrating voice’, combined with a sound and light system.

Chapel of the Visitation of Montserrat

The chapel is situated isolated about ten minutes from the Granges La Rho along the path leading to the pass of the same name.
It was built in 1698 to honour a votive offering and was expanded several times over the years. Today it presents a single-nave layout divided into two sections. Externally, the church front is gabled in exposed stone, while the roof is made of wood shingles.
The feast is celebrated on 2 July.

Chapel of St Margaret and St Sebastian

The chapel is situated in the Chaffaux hamlet in the Frejus Valley.
From the hamlet, continue to Tur d’Amun and follow the winding asphalt road to the crossroads for Granges La Rho. Take the dirt road and go up to the hamlet, where the old chapel dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch and St Sebastian is to be seen.
Mentioned as existing in 1488 in ancient documents, it was restored to its present state in 1604. The front features a statue of St Margaret of Antioch and a lamp whose light, visible from Bardonecchia, was a landmark for travellers passing through the Colle della Rho. The meridiana and the interior of the building were recently restored.
The chapel is celebrated on 20 July.

Chapel of St Mary Magdalene and St Catherine of Alexandria

The chapel is situated in the hamlet of Chaffaux in the Frejus Valley.
From the old village, reach the bridge located at the intersection of Via Modane and Via Pra d’la Cumbe, cross it and continue along the dirt road, steep in places, that leads in an hour’s walk to the chapel.
The building, dating back to the 15th century, has a simple architectural structure with a single nave divided into two bays and a gabled façade surmounted by a bell gable and decorated with a beautiful portal with stone piers and arch and exterior and interior paintings.
The festivity is celebrated on 22 July

Mount Tabor Chapel

The chapel, located on the summit of Mount Tabor (3,183 metres) is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows and is a destination for summer hiking and ski touring.
The origin of the chapel’s construction is unknown; the only thing that is certain is that it was already present and a pilgrimage destination in 1600.
The chapel was built on a permafrost layer composed of two different types of rock. The melting of the ice between the rocks caused the foundations of the front part of the Chapel to continually collapse and, over time, this necessitated several reconstruction and restoration works. Today, access inside the Chapel is forbidden.
The celebration at the Chapel takes place on 24 August for the festivity of St Bartholomew and since 1860, also on 16 July, following a vow made by the people of Melezet to end a typhus epidemic.

Pra Lavin votive pillar

The pylon is located in Pra Lavin, uphill of the hamlet of Rochemolles.
From the hamlet, follow the dirt road in the direction of the Dam up to the 5th hairpin bend, from where a path starts on the left that in about ten minutes brings you to Pra Lavin.
The votive pillar was built at the end of the 15th century and is entirely frescoed with the figures of the Pietà, St Barbara, St Sebastian, St James, St Bernard of Menthon, and the failed martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria. The frescoes can be dated to the years between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century and were painted by artists who reproduced the Serra manner.

Tur d’Amun archaeological park

The Tur d’Amun archaeological park, situated uphill from the Borgo Vecchio, houses the remains of the ancient castle of the Lords De Bardonnéche.
The castle was probably built in the second half of the 12th century with military functions, before becoming the residence of the local lords.
An itinerary has been prepared on the site that, through the installation of several self-guided panels, allows visitors to discover the structures, their history and evolution over time.
The site is always accessible, with the exception of the tower, which can be visited by appointment.

The canal walk

It is also known as the ‘Walk of Roses’ because many wild roses once grew along the path.
The path was built over the canal built in 1859-1860 to bring water from the Melezet torrent to the construction sites of the Frejus railway tunnel.
Today, along this easy and pleasant walk that joins the Borgo Vecchio (Ponte delle Tre Croci) to the hamlet of Les Arnauds, one can admire several wood sculptures, created over the years by sculptors from all over the world, on the occasion of the various editions of the wood sculpture competition called ‘Sculptures in the Alps’.

Rochemolles cableways or overhanging wires

Starting from 1928, some farmers-montanarians formed a company called ‘Società d’la Corda’ and began building zip lines on fixed wires to transport hay taken from the steep slopes of the surrounding mountains to the valley. As many as 23 lines were erected.
In the 1960s, with the introduction of helicopter use, when aerial cable balloons became mandatory, the overhanging wires of the cableways were cut and haymaking on the high meadows was abandoned.

Urban thematic itineraries

Traces of Giovanni Giolitti

A seven-step itinerary dedicated to Giovanni Giolitti, one of the protagonists of Italian history who chose Bardonecchia as his summer holiday resort from 1903 to 1926, covering the places most frequented by the statesman: the house where he stayed, his offices, his walks, …
Every stop features a multimedia and multi-sensory panel that you can activate with your smartphone, an audio-video description of the site and “Giolitti’s phone call”, in which the statesman calls and recounts in first person his life in Bardonecchia.

Monumental trees – Centenary pear tre

The 200-year-old pear tree in Piazza Suspize, 16.5 metres high and with a circumference of 310 cm, has been included in the Piedmont Region’s list of ‘monumental trees’.
Originally, the pear tree was part of the gardens of Casa Suspize, which stood in the present-day square of the same name. The building was constructed between the 18th and 19th centuries and belonged to the municipal secretary, Avv. Carlo Suspize. For 23 summers, it was the residence of statesman Giovanni Giolitti. The house was donated to the municipality in 1964 and demolished in 1994; only the large pear tree in the interior yard was saved, which now stands in the centre of the square.

Frejus railway tunnel

The Frejus Railway Tunnel, which connected Modane to Bardonecchia by passing under the Colle del Frejus, was an engineering work of historic significance and, for its time, world-leading. It was opened in 1871 and was the first tunnel to be dug through the Alps (Alpine Tunnel). It connected not only France to Italy but also represented a link between Europe and the East and contributed to changing the entire transport and trade route.
At 12,234 metres long, it was the longest railway tunnel in the world until June 1882.
Some 4,000 workers were employed in the construction.
Ten years after the inauguration, on 14 August 1881, on the initiative of the Italian Alpine Club, a monument was dedicated to the creator of the work, Giuseppe Francesco Medail, at the end of the street of the same name. It consists of a piece of rock from the tunnel surmounted by an eagle on which there is an effigy of Medail.

“Village Old Life” – Photo exhibition

In Melezet, around forty old prints of daily life are on permanent exhibition in the square in front of the church, and displayed on the walls of the houses along the main street and in the street along the Melezet stream: photographs dating from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
A precious testimony to the village’s past life and a true anthropological and cultural operation to recover and enhance Alpine traditions and identity.