Valle d’Aosta

Abstract

The altitude of the Valle D’Aosta Region varies between 500–100 m a.s.l., in the central valley, to 2,000–2,500 m a.s.l., in the case of the slopes and peaks of the lateral valleys. As a result of this particularly varied morphology, traditional agriculture has had to integrate resources located at different altitudes and adopt a system of seasonal migration. One must note however that the extent of cultivations is only 0.5 % of the SAU (Utilized Agricultural Surface as measured by ISTAT) and declining, with a 20 % fall limited to the 1990–2000 period. Meadows and pastures (21.8 %) and woods (32.5 %) are a much more significant presence in the landscape. Furthermore, the particularly irregular terrain associated with high altitudes determines an extreme fragmentation of cultivatable areas and a variety of microclimates that causes each small area to require an “individual” approach. In some cases, an isolated boulder or a cliff may reflect the sunlight and accumulate heat making it possible to establish a vineyard. In other areas, the steepness of south-facing slopes allows farmers to cultivate cereals up to 2,000 m a.s.l. Thus one cannot speak of “farms” in terms of a unitary area, but rather as business units distributed discontinuously over the land at various altitudes. Generally speaking, at lower altitudes corn, vegetables, fruit (especially apples) and forage are cultivated; in the lower slopes of the central valley, in the adrèt areas (the local name for south-facing slopes) vine is the main cultivation; at medium altitude (600–1,000 m a.s.l.), wheat is cultivated in the flatter and more sunlit areas, and chestnuts on the steeper slopes and especially on the ones facing north ( envers); at higher altitudes, forage is cultivated in the more irrigated areas and cereals in the drier and south-facing slopes, up to the limit of the trees; at high altitudes, between 2,500–2,800 m a.s.l., are the meadow-pastures.