Gressoney-La-Trinité (Gressoney wae, Greschòney Drifaltigkeit or ; frp, Gressonèy-La-Trinità) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

or ''

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

'' and renowned alpine resort at the foot of

Monte Rosa : , other_name = Monte Rosa massif , translation = Mount Rose , photo = Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa) and Monte Rosa Glacier as seen from Gornergrat, Wallis, Switzerland, 2012 August.jpg , photo_caption = Central Mon ...

in the Val de Gressoney, which is part of the

Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

region of

Northwest Italy Northwest Italy ( it, Italia nord-occidentale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. Northwes ...

. It features one of the most scenic alpine

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

s in the Aosta Valley.

Geography

Gressoney-La-Trinité is located in a side valley of the Aosta Valley region of northwestern Italy. At 1,627 metres (5,338 ft)

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, it has the highest elevation of any city in the Gressoney Valley.

History

left, Inscription in Walser German dedicated to Henrich Welf, a native of Gressoney-La-Trinité, president of the '' Walser Kulturzentrum. '' GresTrinFeuerwehr

Germanic people, known as the Walser, settled in the upper Lys Valley from the 12th century onwards. Historically, Gressoney-Saint-Jean and Gressoney-La-Trinité have been two separate ''

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

''. From 1928 until 1946, the two communes were unified and officially named Gressoney. From 1939 to 1946, the name was Italianized into ''Gressonei''. After WWII the two former communes were again reconstituted separately.

Walser Culture and Language

Gressoney-La-Trinité and

Gressoney-Saint-Jean Gressoney-Saint-Jean (Gressoney wae, Greschòney Zer Chilchu; frp, Gressonèy-Sèn-Dzan; german: Kressenau Sankt Johann) is a town and ''comune'' in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy. Geography The town is situated in a valley forme ...

form a

Walser German Walser German (german: Walserdeutsch) and Walliser German (, locally ) are a group of Highest Alemannic dialects spoken in parts of Switzerland (Valais, Ticino, Grisons), Italy (Piedmont, Aosta Valley), Liechtenstein (Triesenberg, Planken), and ...

linguistic and cultural entity known as ''Greschòney'' in

Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...

or Arpitan, ''Kressenau'' in Walser German, or ''Kreschnau'' in the local Walser dialect known as ''Greschoneytitsch'' (or simply ''Titsch'').Flurnamen Fein Weisser Fleck.
Letter by Rolf Marti, Gstaad, in: Die Alpen, June 2011, p.29 An example of Greschòneytitsch:

Where to stay

There are many hotels and bed-and-breakfast lodgings near the Monterosa ski lifts. Camping chalets and pitches are also available for rent.

References

External links

Official tourism information for Gressoney

Official tourist information for the Aosta Valley
Cities and towns in Aosta Valley Ski areas and resorts in Italy {{Aosta-geo-stub