Ayas (Aosta Valley)

Ayas is a town in the Aosta Valley region of northwestern Italy. The comune of Ayas occupies the upper part of the homonymous valley at the feet of the great peaks of the Pennine Alps, which separate it from Zermatt in the Mattertal (Switzerland) and mark the border between Italy and Switzerland. The most notable of these peaks are Castor (4,226 m), Pollux (4,091 m) and the Breithorn (4,165 m), the highest peaks of Monte Rosa Massif's glacier. The Val d'Ayas has been strongly influenced by the Church in the course of its history. Thus, today, it contains more than twenty religious buildings, including churches, chapels, sanctuaries, grottoes and shrines all painted and connected to particular artistic genres. The woodwork of the sabotiers d'Ayas is renowned for its sabot shoes, known in the local dialect as tsôques. There are many popular tales which are recounted about the villages and some local places, like the chapel of Salus and the hermitage of Résy.