History & Heritage
The Collegiate Church of Sant’Orso & the Cathedral
Aosta · Aosta Valley
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- History & Heritage
- COUNTRY
- Italy
- REGION
- Aosta · Aosta Valley
- DURATION
- 1–2 days
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
Aosta’s medieval faith built two towers that still define the skyline. The Collegiate Church of Sant’Orso keeps a Romanesque cloister whose carved capitals are among the finest in the Italian Alps, a crypt of the original 9th-century church, and Ottonian frescoes in the attic that survived a thousand years. Two hundred metres east, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta — built over a Roman domus, its Romanesque twin clochers painted in the 1920s — guards the mosaic floor of its choir and the cryptoporticus beneath.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
The two towers are Aosta’s medieval answer to its Roman founders — the city’s identity in stone from the 4th century to the 12th.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before you go
MAP & LOCATION
The Collegiate Church of Sant’Orso & the Cathedral
The Collegiate Church of Sant’Orso & the Cathedral, Aosta, Aosta Valley, Italy
45.7389, 7.3176
MORE ATTRACTIONS
More to see in Aosta
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Da Nando — sixty-year family trattoria by Sant’Orso: Valdostana fondue, friendship coffee in the grolla
L’Osteria dell’Oca — three floors of Valdostan classics, snails and carbonada with polenta
Le Bar à Vin — fontina fondue in a cocotte and mountain charcuterie near Porta Pretoria
Trattoria Praetoria — the centenarian classic: venison ragu, gluten-free Valdostan dishes
Pila mountain huts (Yeti, Gran Baita) — polenta concia at 1,800 m with the 4,000ers on the skyline
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
The pedestrian-centre hotels around Piazza Chanoux — Roman ruins at the doorstep
Camping International Touring (Sarre) and Lazy Bee (Quart) — riverside pitches minutes from the centre
Mountain hotels and huts at Pila — ski-in, hike-out above the city
Agriturismi and B&Bs in the side valleys — Cogne, Valgrisenche, the Great St Bernard road
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
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INTERESTS
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