Aosta · Italy

Adret and envers

Observe the two sides of the valley and count the houses. On this side there are many, with the vines, the fields and the villages running almost to the treeline. On the other there are almost none: woodland, and little besides. This is neither an accident nor a recent choice. This slope faces south and receives the sun all day; the one opposite faces north and remains in shadow for weeks in winter. Here the snow departs in March, over there in May. In the language of this valley the two sides carry two names, the adret and the envers, the right side and the reverse, and for a thousand years they determined where one built, where one sowed and where one cut wood. Every village you can see is the result of that calculation, made by somebody a very long time ago.

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How much difference does it make?

Weeks of growing season, and a great deal less firewood. On a sunny slope the grain ripens and the vine holds; on the shaded one at the same height, often neither does. In a subsistence economy that difference was the difference.

So is the envers empty?

No, but it is used differently. It is the side of woodland, timber, hunting and the high pastures, and the villages there sit lower down or where more light reaches. Every valley has its own division of labour between the two sides.

Is it still visible today?

Perfectly, from the air and from here. Heating and cars have taken away much of the necessity, but the houses have been where they are for centuries and nobody moves them. Geography decides slowly and changes its mind more slowly still.

Where it is

Excenex, 11100 Aosta · 45.76132, 7.30011 · Open in Maps

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