Читать книгу Through the Italian Alps. The GTA - The Grande Traversata delle Alpi онлайн

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Lastly, as of the Valle d’Aosta the GTA enters the realms of the Pennine Alps or Alpi Pennine, located on the edge of Switzerland. Known as the Central Alps, they are crowned by the magnificent glaciated 4634m Monte Rosa, Europe’s second summit after Mont Blanc. The range also includes the Matterhorn and the Parco Naturale Alta Valsesia; clocking in at 6500ha it calls itself the highest park in Europe.

Monte Rosa peaks at 4634m

Piedmont

All these mountain ranges are situated in the Italian region of Piedmont – Piemonte in Italian – which aptly means ‘foot of a mountain’. It assumed strategic importance in the Roman era, providing easy access to Gaul and the transalpine provinces. As a border region it has also played host to an intriguing range of ethnic and religious groups over the ages. The vast swathe from the Ligurian to the Cottian Alps is still home to 200,000 people claiming to belong to the curious Occitan cultural group. Originally hailing from central France and the Spanish Pyrenees, they boast a distinctive red/yellow flag and recently revived Franco-Provençal dialect, the language of the troubadours. Their thriving folk music and traditional dances star the ghironda or ‘wheel fiddle’ akin to a laptop hurdy-gurdy (a stringed instrument played by turning a handle).