Courmayeur · Italy
Via Roma
The name of this village derives from the Latin Curia Maior, the greater court: a Roman road passed through here, a branch of the Via delle Gallie climbing towards the Little St Bernard. It was not a scenic route. It was the artery holding the empire together on this side of the Alps, and those who travelled it did so for work, for trade or under military orders. Via Roma still follows its line. There are shop windows and café tables today, but the reason a street exists precisely here, and runs precisely this straight, was settled two thousand years ago by someone who had to get a cart over a pass.
Go deeper
What was the Via delle Gallie?
A network of Roman roads linking the Po plain to Gaul through the western Alps. It forked at Aosta: one branch to the Great St Bernard, the other to the Little St Bernard, coming through here.
Why "greater court"?
Curia Maior probably meant an administrative centre or an important meeting place for the area. The name then wore down through French into Courmayeur, which is what we say today.
What's still Roman around here?
Little on the surface, which is normal: valley roads are rebuilt constantly. What remains is the line, and the place names. In the mountains the most reliable Roman trace is often a name rather than a stone.
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