I have this weird goal of visiting all twenty regions in Italy. Italian regions are comparable to states in America except there are a lot fewer of them and each region is a lot more different. Before coming to Italy this summer I had visited 13 of the 20 regions. After Torino I was up to 14. Now I am up to 15 after visiting Valle D’Aosta with Patrick.

Before you start congratulating me, I know you’re secretly thinking “WTF is Valle D’Aosta?” Don’t worry you are not alone. Italy, as you can imagine, is a very popular country for tourists…except for middle of nowhere places like Valle D’Aosta. For you educational purposes please see the map of Italy below. The highlighted region (yes, a region is highlighted if you look closely enough) is Valle D’Aosta.

Not exactly a bustling area huh?

Except that Patrick and I couldn’t have been more surprised during our visit. We briefly stopped in the capital of the region, Aosta, and found a quaint little town with lots of activity. We were really disappointed that we didn’t have more time to spend in this city. It really was picturesque – the city was in the heart of the Alps and scenery was gorgeous.

After leaving Aosta we drove 45 minutes to our destination – a small town named Cogne with lots of hiking trails. Patrick and I really wanted to do a hike and although it was originally hard to find information, we hit the jackpot with Cogne’s tourism center. Their website gave a map with all of the hiking trails clearly labeled. To our delight, when we arrived to Cogne the trails were just as nicely labeled on the actual path.

Patrick overlooking the city of Cogne

Although our hike was not extremely difficult the views were unbeatable. I have never hiked in an area where there were no trees blocking the outwards view. It was so humbling to be walking amongst one of the most impressive mountain ranges in the world.

Patrick’s thoughts? “This was the coolest thing we have done so far on the trip.” Boyfriend approved.

Would I go back to Valle D’Aosta? In a heartbeat. Unlike Torino, I have no desire to live there but I do wish we had been able to spend more time there. If I have a chance I would love to explore more of this breathtaking region.