Pragelato (also ''Pragelà'';

Vivaro-Alpine Vivaro-Alpine ( oc, vivaroalpenc, vivaroaupenc) is a variety of Occitan spoken in southeastern France (namely, around the Dauphiné area) and northwestern Italy (the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont and Liguria). There is also a small Vivaro-Alpine ...

: ''Prajalats'', French: Prajalats) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions (''Regions of Italy, regioni'') and provinces (''Provinces ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin ( it, Città metropolitana di Torino, Piedmontese: ''Sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the Province of Turin and c ...

in the Italian region

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, located about west of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

, in the upper Val Chisone. The name ''Pragelato'', meaning "icy meadow", has been derived from the harsh climate and the fact that the ground is covered with ice for long periods.'Pragelato'
in ''Dizionario topografico dei comuni compresi entro i confini naturali dell'Italia'', ed. by Attilio Zuccagni-Orlandini (Florence: Società Editrice di Patrii Documenti Storico-Statistici, 1864).''Dizionario geografico, storico, statistico, commerciale degli stati di S.M. il re di Sardegna''
ed. by Goffredo Casalis, 28 vols (Turin: G. Maspero, 1833–56) XV (1847), 707–709. On both sides of the Chisone, extensive forests of pine and larch provide protection from the avalanches which are a common occurrence in the winter season: for this reason in the nineteenth century the people of Pragelato were only permitted to fell trees close to the mountain summits, and even then only with the permission of the communal administration. Pragelato borders the following municipalities: Exilles, Oulx, Salbertrand, Usseaux, Fenestrelle, Sauze d'Oulx, Massello, Sestriere, Sauze di Cesana, Salza di Pinerolo, Prali.

History

Pragelato was part of the Escartons Republic, a semi-independent French state which lasted from 1343 to 1713. After the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...

of the latter, it became a possession of the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule o ...

. In 1747 the nearby Assietta Pass was the stage of the eponymous battle. During the 19th and 20th century, much of the population emigrated to France. On 19 April 1904, an avalanche struck the miners barracks of the Beth copper mine in the nearby Troncea Valley, killing 81 people. A memorial plaque in the small cemetery of the Laval hamlet remembers the victims of the avalanche. Pragelato was the site of three sports hosted during the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

. Its ski jump hosted the

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

and the ski jumping part of the

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cu ...

events of the

. The flat part of the venue hosted the

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreat ...

and cross country skiing part of the Nordic combined events for those same games.2006 Winter Olympics official report.
Volume 3. pp. 72-3.

Ski area

Pragelato is well equipped for

. Its Olympic course – the Pragelato Plan – has a snow-making system over , and a tourist course winds along Val Troncea Natural Park. The ski-jumping stadium presents the Olympic heritage, which highlights the tourist-sport development of this resort. Pragelato has his own alpine skiing areas with about of slopes and is linked to the

Via Lattea The Via Lattea ( italian for '' Milky Way'') is a winter sports area in the Italian and French Alps, straddling the French-Italian border at Claviere/Montgenèvre. Located some 70 km (44 miles) west of Turin, it comprises the five Piedm ...

ski area, with about of slopes in Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, Montgenevre (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

), Claviere, Pragelato,

San Sicario Sansicario (also spelled San Sicario) is a ''frazione'' of the '' comune'' of Cesana Torinese (Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin ( it, Città metropolitana di Torino, Piedmontese: ''Sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a ...

, Cesana.

Natural parks

* Parco naturale Val Troncea *Orsiera Nature Reserve, which stretches across the Northern

Cottian Alps The Cottian Alps (; french: Alpes Cottiennes ; it, Alpi Cozie ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy ( Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus R ...

and encompasses the Val Chisone, Val Susa and Val Sangone. On average, the borders of this protected area reach in elevation, and the reserve includes a wealth of fauna and historical landmarks, including rock engravings and military buildings. *Alpine lakes include the Lakes of Cristalliera, where herds of mouflon come to graze, Lake Chardonnet, the Lakes of Beth, which afford views of the old abandoned copper mines, and the Lakes of Albergian, where edelweiss and Alpine aster blossom in summer.

References

External links

Summer & Winter: Official Tourism Information

City Council Official website

Pragelato SKI - new website
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Piedmont Venues of the 2006 Winter Olympics Ski areas and resorts in Italy