Cogne (, ;

Issime Issime (; Issime ; ; Valdôtain: (locally in ''patois gabençois'' )Obsolete. Recent works in German indicate the official French name only - cfLiederbuch von Gressoney und Issime and Peter Zürrer, ''Sprachkontakt in Walser Dialekten: Gressone ...

) is a town and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, with 1369 inhabitants, as of 2017.

Geography

Cogne is located in the valley with the same name along a stream known as the Torrent Grand Eyvia. It is the largest municipality in the

. Cogne is from

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, from

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and from

Aosta Aosta ( , , ; ; , or ; or ) is the principal city of the Aosta Valley, a bilingual Regions of Italy, region in the Italy, Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the G ...

. The town center of Cogne, called "Veulla" (meaning "town center" in the local Arpitan language), is surrounded by four valleys: * South: the Valnontey valley, which leads to the slopes of

Gran Paradiso The Gran Paradiso () or Grand Paradis ( ) is a mountain in the Graian Alps in Italy, located between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions. It is located in Gran Paradiso National Park. Etymology The Italian toponym ''Gran Paradiso'' deriv ...

; * North: the Grauson valley; * South-east, the Urtier valley and Valleille; * East, the Gimillan valley. A large meadow, known as the '' St Ursus Meadow'' ( It. ''Prati di Sant'Orso''; Fr. ''Prés de Saint-Ours''), is located at the southern edge of the town center
webcam
; the municipal statute forbids any construction works on this meadow, which has received recognition as a "Wonder of Italy".

History

The population of Cogne originates from the Arpitane valleys of the Piedmont region. In the past, economic relations, and trade routes were directed to these valleys, using

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

tracks and

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

es, like the Rancio Pass or the Arietta Pass. The economic influence of the Aosta Valley is more recent. Until the 1970s, Cogne was an important mining center for the extraction of iron ore. The main mineral veins were exploited in the mines of Colonne, Licony e Larsinaz. The ore (mainly

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula . It is one of the iron oxide, oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetism, ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetization, magnetized to become a ...

) was transported for processing to the Cogne steel plant in

using a

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

. The mines were closed in 1979. Recent natural disasters that have hit the region include the flood of 1993 and that of October 15, 2000, when more than of rain fell in two days, causing inundations and landslides.

Sport

Cogne is an international center of cross country skiing and ice climbing, with of trails and 150 ice falls. There are also of downhill runs, many walks on the snow and more than 140 icefalls. During the summer, hiking and mountain biking are popular.Official tourism site
https://www.cogneturismo.it/datapage.asp?id=27&l=3

Main sights

*Ibex, wild goat, marmots, royal eagles are easy to see. Many walks and hikes of different level, to lakes, waterfalls and other natural attraction. * Paradisia Alpine Botanical Garden, an alpine

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

Pont d'Aël The Pont d'Aël () is a Roman aqueduct located in a village of the same name in the comune of Aymavilles in Aosta Valley, northern Italy. It was built in the year 3 BC for irrigation purposes and supplying water for the newly founded colony ...

, a Roman aqueduct, now foot bridge nearby crossing the Cogne Valley more than above the bottom

Crime

Cogne was the seat of the Cogne Homicide.

References

External links

{{authority control Cities and towns in Aosta Valley Ski areas and resorts in Italy