Traditions and light games between Aosta and Bard Fortress

The Aosta Valley offers a Christmas that goes beyond the classic Christmas market and includes a mosaic of events that weave together Alpine tradition and innovation. If, with the arrival of snow, the small mountain villages are transformed into living postcards, the centre of Aosta becomes the fulcrum of a calendar of Christmas events combining crafts, culture and entertainment. The most eagerly awaited appointment remains the Marché Vert Noël, the famous market that enlivens the historic Piazza Chanoux until 6 January with little wooden houses, wood and iron workshops and typical products from the Valley, including wines of course. And just a few steps away from the market is a cultural itinerary among the Roman monuments of Augusta Praetoria, the Cathedral and the Sant'Orso complex. Christmas in Valle d'Aosta, however, does not stop at the capital: on 7 December, the Mistletoe Festival returns to Saint-Denis with a market, torchlight procession and Druidic fire, while in Gressoney-La-Trinité, the Walser ritual of Sankt Kloas (St. Nicholas) with gifts and sweets for the children is staged. In Hône, from 5 to 8 December, there is the Micòoula Festival, which pays homage to the famous sweet rye bread, and on Advent weekends the Wiehnacht Märt offers mountain crafts and local specialities. Bard deserves a separate chapter, where the village and the famous Fortress light up from 7 December to 6 January with Noël au Bourg and the show "Lights of Christmas at the Fortress of Bard", with videomapping and projections that transform the Piazza d'Armi and the façades of the fortress into an open-air theatre inspired by the Nutcracker fairy tale and the music of Tchaikovsky.

https://www.mercatinodinataleaosta.it/