The best traffic-free bike rides around Challand-Saint-Victor

The climb is at times truly challenging

Located in the heart of the hamlet of Viering, in the municipality of Champdepraz, this small chapel is an emblematic example of the rural religious architecture of the Aosta Valley. Characterized by a white plastered facade that contrasts with the exposed stone side walls, the building features valuable frescoes above the entrance portal, depicting the titular saints. The most distinctive element is its bell gable, which houses a bell with a unique history: it still bears the marks of bullet holes inflicted by Nazi soldiers during World War II, making the church not only a place of worship but also a silent witness to local resistance.

The wooden sculpture depicts a sabotier, the artisan who, in the tradition of the Aosta Valley, dedicated himself to the manufacture of sabots, the wooden clogs that for centuries were worn by the inhabitants of the alpine valleys. The figure holds a piolet in his hand, the axe used to rough out the trunk – usually of aspen wood, worked while still green – to obtain the raw shape of the footwear. The sabotier's trade is an ancient one, of unknown origins, which in the Aosta Valley found its highest expression in the Val d'Ayas, where the production of clogs was not just a craft activity but an identity trait of the entire community. In a largely self-sufficient mountain economy, sabots met an essential need: to have robust, warm, and waterproof footwear, suitable for the rigors of winter and the harshness of the terrain. Few owned real leather shoes, reserved for special occasions. With the changing customs and the advent of modern footwear, demand declined, and today very few artisans remain to perpetuate this ancient knowledge. The sculpture pays homage to a silent and fundamental figure of alpine rural civilization: the sabotier, guardian of a craft in which the simplicity of wood was transformed, through expert hands, into something indispensable for the life of an entire community.

The ancient press of Clos de Barme in Arnad is one of the most evocative testimonies of traditional rural life in the lower Aosta Valley. It is a community press, meaning a collectively used piece of equipment that served the villagers for pressing grapes and producing wine. The year 1804 is engraved on a beam, likely corresponding to a modernization intervention where the press assumed its current structure. In a territory like Arnad, where viticulture has ancient roots and where the DOC Arnad-Montjovet wine based on Nebbiolo is still produced today, the press represented a crucial point of the village's economic and social life. Next to it stands the chapel dedicated to Saint Roch, testifying to the typically alpine link between the spiritual dimension and collective work. Today, the press is one of the stops on the "Chemins des Vignobles" itinerary and is located along the Via Francigena route, set within a landscape of terraced vineyards and centuries-old chestnut groves.

The Arlaz Waterfall can be reached either from the Col d'Arlaz or from the Orbeillaz car park, following path number 31 which runs alongside the Rû d’Arlaz, a 14th-century artificial canal that channels the water of the Evançon stream and carries it to the municipalities of Challand, Emarese and Montjovet.

a little shade under the greenery, always welcome

Hill with gentle slopes and a short climb

Easy dirt road, with compact surface, easily passable in both directions. The difference in altitude is modest.