La Thuile (French pronunciation: [la tɥil]; Valdôtain: La Tchouiille[4]) is a town and comune in the Aosta Valley of northwest Italy.
La Thuile | |
|---|---|
| Comune di La Thuile Commune de La Thuile | |
 | |
-Stemma.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of La Thuile  | |
  La Thuile Location of La Thuile in Italy  La Thuile La Thuile (Aosta Valley) | |
| Coordinates: 45°42′N 6°57′E / 45.700°N 6.950°E | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Aosta Valley |
| Province | none |
| Frazioni | Buic, Thovex, Moulin, Villaret, Bathieu, Entrèves, Petite Golette, Grande Golette, Pont Serrand, Arly, Les Granges, La Joux, Pierre-carrée, Preyllon, Les Suches, Petit-Saint-Bernard, Petosan, Faubourg, Preylet |
| Area | |
| • Total | 125 km2 (48 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,450 m (4,760 ft) |
| Population (31 December 2022)[3] | |
| • Total | 790[1] |
| Demonym | Thuileins |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 11016 |
| Dialing code | 0165 |
| Patron saint | Saint Nicholas |
| Saint day | 9 May |
Geography
edit
La Thuile is located in the Alps at the extreme north-west of the country, close to the French alpine town of La Rosière. The town is crossed by the road going from Pré-Saint-Didier in the north-west up to the Little St Bernard Pass in the south-east linking Italy to Bourg-Saint-Maurice and the Isère Valley in France. The small alpine town is divided in half by the Dora di Verney, a small river, created by some small torrent coming from Ruitor glacier, afluent of the Dora Baltea.
Economy
editCoal mining (anthracite) was important in the area before World War II, many diggings and old mining structures can be seen around the village. Nowadays, La Thuile depends on tourism, in winter as one of the main Italian Alpine ski resorts linked with La Rosière, as well as in summer (hiking).
Etimology
editLa Thuile has origins dating back to the Roman conquest when the village was known as Ariolica and was located along the consular road of the Gauls, which crossed the Alps via the "Piccolo San Bernardo" Pass. The name Ariolica seems to derive from Celtic roots, with "ar" meaning high ground and "lica" meaning light, thus translating to "light on the mountain." After the fall of the Roman Empire, it became part of the Kingdom of the Franks in 575 and Burgundy in the 10th century, taking the name Thuilia. Later, it came under the rule of the Savoy family until it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
The current name, La Tchoueuille, was adopted in 1760, but during the Fascist period, it was temporarily changed to Porta Littoria. The etymology of La Thuile derives from the Latin tegula (tile), referring to the loose stone slabs used to cover houses, once quarried locally. Today, the village has 791 inhabitants, called Tchouiillen.
Sport
editVarious sport are practiced in La Thuile such as: skiing, rafting, cross-country skiing, mtb and trekking.
Skiing
editSkiing is the most popular sport in La Thuile. La Thuile's ski resort is the fifth largest ski resort in Italy and is connected with the ski resort of La Rosiere, France, combined there are more the 160 km (100 mi) of slopes.
In La Thuile there are:
- 51 runs: 14 blue (easy/medium); 23 red (medium/hard) and 14 black (hard/expert only).
- 19 lifts: 12 chairlifts, 1 gondola lift, 2 ski lifts pole rod and 4 moving carpet
- Fun slope LTH: a playground where kids and beginners can try winter sport.
In La Rosiere there are:
- 40 runs: 8 green ( very easy), 13 blue (easy/medium); 15 red (medium/hard) and 4 black (hard/expert only).
- 20 lifts: 10 chairlifts, 9 ski lifts pole rod and 1 moving carpet.
- 1 Snowpark
- 1 kids playground area
La Thuile hosted the FIS Women's World Cup, for the first time in 2016 and 2020, for the category Giant slalom and downhill. La Thuile will host again the Women's World Cup in April 2025. Both the giant slalom and downhill competition take place on the famous "la Mitica Pista 3 Franco Berthod" one of the steepest slopes in Italy with an average incline of 60% and a max incline of 76%.
Events
editLa Thuile has been the venue for several major annual international winter conferences: "Les Rencontres de Physique de la Vallée d'Aoste" organized by Italy's Institute of Nuclear Physics, and "Rencontres de Moriond" organized by the French National institute of nuclear and particle physics (IN2P3).
In February 2016 the slopes of La Thuile hosted, for the first time in history, three competitions (two downhill and one super G) valid for the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup female. In 2020, the female worldcup returned to the 3 Franco Berthod on Saturday 29 February and Sunday 1 March 2020, respectively with the downhill and the super-G, but the latter was cancelled due to bad weather.
Enduro World series visited La Thuile in 2014 and hosted round 4 of the Enduro World Series in 2016.
Transportation
editPublic transportation includes regular buses connecting La Thuile to Pré-Saint-Didier, the latter has a railway station connected to the Italian railway network via Aosta. One of the closest airports is Geneva International Airport approximately 120 km (75 mi) away. During the winter season, especially during Christmas and Easter, the Municipality of La Thuile offers free bus services to the ski lifts every 15-20 minutes, catering to the high influx of tourists.[5]
International relations
editTwin towns – Sister cities
editLa Thuile is twinned with:
Alassio in Italy- Laigueglia in Italy
References
edit- ^ Dato Istat (in Italian) - Population as of 31 December 2010.
- ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ Lo gnalei - Guichet linguistique de la Vallée d'Aoste
- ^ "La Thuile free shuttle" (PDF).