Valle d’Aosta: “heaven for men, purgatory for women, hell for mules,” but certainly delicious for our palates! Among mountains and castles, up there, in the western-most corner of Italy, the smallest of regions, Valle d’Aosta, winks at us. Stern and strong, but so welcoming and soft, just like one of its most famous dishes, fonduta. 

It is the only Italian region with a fully mountainous territory, for centuries protected and isolated from the rest of the world by the Alps’ most majestic peaks. Thanks to this isolation imposed by nature though, Valle d’Aosta’s culinary traditions remained virtually untouched.