La Thuile (; Valdôtain: Lo gnalei - Guichet linguistique de la Vallée d'Aoste
/ref>) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

of northwest

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Geography

Dente del Gigante e Grandes Jorasses da Petosan

La Thuile is located in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

at the extreme north-west of the country, close to the French alpine town of La Rosière. The town is crossed by the road going from

Pré-Saint-Didier Pré-Saint-Didier (; Valdôtain: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy, at above sea level. Transportation The terminus of the regional railway line from Aosta is located in Pré-Saint-Didier, although wi ...

in the north-west up to the

Little St Bernard Pass The Little St Bernard Pass (French: ''Col du Petit Saint-Bernard'', Italian: ''Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo'') is a mountain pass in the Alps on the France–Italy border. Its saddle is at 2188 metres above sea level. It is located between Sa ...

in the south-east linking Italy to

Bourg-Saint-Maurice Bourg-Saint-Maurice (; Arpitan: ''Bôrg-Sant-Mori'' or simply ''Le Bôrg''), popularly known as Bourg, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Located on the Italian border south of Cha ...

and the Isère Valley in France.

Economy

Coal mining (

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

) was important in the area before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many diggings and old mining structures can be seen around the village. Nowadays, La Thuile depends on tourism, in winter as one of the main Italian Alpine ski resorts linked with La Rosière, as well as in summer (hiking).

Events

La Thuile has been the venue for several major annual international winter conferences: "Les Rencontres de Physique de la Vallée d'Aoste" organized by Italy's National Institute for Nuclear Physics, and "Rencontres de Moriond" organized by the French National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics. In February 2016 the slopes of La Thuile hosted, for the first time in history, three competitions (two downhill and one super G) valid for the

FIS Alpine Ski World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang (skiing), Serge Lang and the alpine ski team d ...

female. In 2020, the female worldcup was held on Saturday 29 February and Sunday 1 March 2020, respectively with the downhill and the super-G, but the latter was cancelled due to bad weather. The Enduro World Series were held in La Thuile in 2014, as well as round 4 of the Enduro World Series in 2016.

Transportation

Public transportation includes regular buses connecting La Thuile to Pré-Saint-Didier, the latter has a railway station connected to the Italian railway network via

Aosta Aosta ( , , ; ; , or ; or ) is the principal city of the Aosta Valley, a bilingual Regions of Italy, region in the Italy, Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the G ...

. One of the closest airports is

Geneva International Airport Geneva Airport – formerly and still unofficially known as Cointrin Airport – is an international airport of Geneva, the second most populous city in Switzerland. It is located northwest of the city centre. It surpassed the 15-million-pas ...

approximately away.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

La Thuile is twinned with: *

Alassio Alassio (Ligurian: Arasce or Arasci) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Savona situated in the western coast of Liguria, Northern Italy, approximately from the French border. Alassio is known for its natural and scenic views ...

in Italy * Laigueglia in Italy

References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Aosta Valley