Courmayeur · Italy
Dolonne
Dolonne lies on the other bank of the Dora, five minutes' walk from Courmayeur, and appears to belong to another century. The houses are stone and timber, set against one another, with narrow lanes turning between the hay barns and the byres. The reason it has remained so is simple: when Courmayeur became a resort, the hotels, the banks and the shops all went to the far bank of the river. Dolonne continued doing what it had already been doing, which was being a farming village, and when tourism finally arrived it found a place already built and had no room to redo it. The cable car to the slopes departs from here now. But walking the lanes in the middle of the morning one still meets more cats than people.
Go deeper
What can you pick out between the houses?
Stone fountains, communal ovens, and covered passages that go through the buildings instead of round them. Land was scarce and dear, so people built against each other and walked underneath. Look at the roofs too: stone slabs, extremely heavy, made to hold snow.
Why is the town on the other side?
Because the main road runs along it. Courmayeur grew along the way up towards the passes, where the coaches and later the cars arrived. Dolonne was off the route, and for a farming village that was not a problem.
Does anyone still live here?
Yes, alongside houses let to visitors. It is the difficult balance of every good-looking mountain village: if nobody lives there it becomes a stage set, and if everybody does it cannot pay for itself. Here, for now, the two exist side by side.
Where it is
More stories in Courmayeur
- The Aiguille Blanche
- The Aiguille Noire
- Duke of the Abruzzi Alpine Museum
- The Brenva Spur
- The Guides' House
- Church of Saint Pantaléon
- The quiet col
- The Col de la Seigne