Over the past few decades, the high valley of Rhêmes, now parish and municipality of Rhêmes-Notre-Dame, has become a popular vacation spot for its extraordinary beauty and the remarkable conservation of its ancient architectural heritage.

Few people know that this richness that everybody so admire is actually due to the biggest difficulty in the history of Rhêmes-Notre-Dame: its inaccessibility. For more than six months per year, the inhabitants of the high villages of Saint-Georges were cut out from the rest of the valley by the frequent and most dangerous avalanches which would sometimes also isolate one hamlet from the other. A road for cars was only built in post-war years, and it’s been possible to keep it open for most of winter only since the end of the Sixties. The massive investments in road construction now make it possible to safely and easily access this small world.

Nowadays, tourism is Rhêmes-Notre-Dame’s main resource. The building of adequate accommodation facilities, the opportunity of enjoying a wonderful cross-country ski trail as well as some high-level ski mountaineering, make this the perfect location for tourists who want to escape the congestion of the big ski resorts, to find a quieter setting. Interesting to know: Rhêmes-Notre-Dame is the only municipality in Italy to be able to accommodate twice its population within its hotel facilities! Here lives one of the smallest Christian communities of the Church of Aosta, which shares a priest with other neighbouring communities and is always very welcoming with tourists.