Aosta

Aosta (classic Augusta Pretoria), a town in the province of Turin, Italy, situated in a lovely Alpine valley on the left bank of the river Dora Baltea, and nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, at the point where the descents from the Great and Little St. Bernard unite. The remains of an amphitheatre and a triumphal arch, with other traces of Roman occupation, still exist. St. Bernard was archdeacon here, and Anselm of Canterbury was a native of this place. The valley is fertile and produces rice, cheese, and hemp, but the inhabitants are terribly afflicted with goitre and cretinism. There are mineral springs in the neighbourhood. The district, formerly a duchy, bears the same name as the town.