The best cycling routes around Villeneuve

An open-air museum 💪😀

At the gates of Gressan, next to the Dora Baltea and along the cycle path that connects Sarre to Pontey, there is the splendid green area "Les Îles". Extending over a surface area of 38,959 m2, it is dedicated to the practice of traditional games and surrounded by a 1,028-meter cycle ring, which can also be used as a fitness trail, jogging track and roller skating track. The area is equipped with a children's playground, an artificial sports climbing gym, two fountains and numerous benches. Access is free, but in some periods of the year it may be partially limited to allow training and competitions of traditional local games such as rebatta, fiolet and tzan. In particular, from March 1 to May 31 and from September 1 to October 15, a part of the area and the related section of the cycle path are reserved for these activities. In the immediate vicinity there are bars, restaurants and a private sports center with a swimming pool and padel courts, both indoor and outdoor, with catering service. The entire area is connected to the Montfleury sports center in Aosta via a cycle/pedestrian walkway that crosses the Dora Baltea and is served by two convenient parking lots.

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The Mont Fallère Refuge, at 2,385 m, is located in the valley between Mont Fallère and Monte Rosso di Vertosan. It offers 50 beds in rooms with bathrooms, and has a restaurant with typical cuisine. Open in summer, it can be reached on foot or by mountain bike.

Excellent spot for a tour among vineyards and breathtaking light

At 2,000 meters above sea level, Le Pont is an enchanting village in the heart of the Gran Paradiso national park. Here the asphalt ends, opening the way to exciting excursions and runs through woods, pastures and lakes. Numerous paths depart from this point, including the climb to the Nivolet pass. Furthermore, it is near the Vittorio Emanuele refuge, from which it is possible to venture towards the summit of Gran Paradiso. Le Pont, nestled in this valley, represents its last hamlet.

Built at the end of the 15th century by Bonifacio d'Avise, the castle consists of a three-storey building flanked by a quadrangular tower. The entrance door features the motto of the lords of Avise: "Qui tost Avise tart se repent". Currently restored and open to visits, it is used for events and temporary exhibitions. Inside, what deserves particular attention is the large room with the fireplace, the furnishings with the pewter collection, the "safe room", the "shelf room", famous for the fourteen wooden shelves carved with figures of animals, monsters and characters dressed in fifteenth-century style, and the frescoes. All these elements place the Avise commission in a well-defined trend of "official" taste of the time.

Recent studies have shown that the castle was built in its current appearance around 1275, although the toponym Castrum Argenteum appears as early as 1176. The builder was probably Master James of Saint Georges, architect of Count Peter II of Savoy, already active in Wales. The promontory on which the castle stands and which overlooks the town of Villeneuve was already inhabited in proto-historic times, as well as in Roman times. Its strategic position meant that the castle always remained in the hands of the Count of Savoy. The castle consists of a vast enclosure with fortifications and a lookout tower also outside. On the east side there is the chapel, the oldest part of the complex (11th-12th century). The western part of the enclosure is delimited by a defensive wall into which the entrance is made. This second enclosure contained the now destroyed dwelling, leaning against the wall, the vaulted cistern and the circular keep. The architecture highlights the defensive purpose of the original structure: the entrance door was positioned several meters high and the only lights are the slits, almost invisible externally. The castle is accessible on foot, in a quarter of an hour, from the small road that starts from the bridge over the Dora Baltea in the town center of Villeneuve.