Aosta

Aosta stands where the Buthier joins the Dora Baltea, at the meeting of roads to the Great and Little Saint Bernard passes. The Romans founded Augusta Praetoria in 25 BC after subduing the Salassi, settling veterans in a town laid out like a military camp. Its position gave it lasting importance on the routes across the western Alps.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Byzantines and Lombards successively controlled the town. Aosta passed to the counts of Savoy in the eleventh century. The inhabitants acquired the privilege of holding an assembly of the states-general in 1189, preserving a distinct voice within the Savoyard lands. In 1536 an executive council was appointed from this assembly; it continued to function until 1802, through centuries of political change and war around the Alpine passes.