La Thuile, Aosta Valley

La Thuile (French pronunciation: [la tɥil]; Valdôtain: La Tchouiille[4]) is a town and comune in the Aosta Valley of northwest Italy.

La Thuile
Comune di La Thuile
Commune de La Thuile
Coat of arms of La Thuile
Location of La Thuile
Map
La Thuile is located in Italy
La Thuile
La Thuile
Location of La Thuile in Italy
La Thuile is located in Aosta Valley
La Thuile
La Thuile
La Thuile (Aosta Valley)
Coordinates: 45°42′N 6°57′E / 45.700°N 6.950°E / 45.700; 6.950
CountryItaly
RegionAosta Valley
Provincenone
FrazioniBuic, Thovex, Moulin, Villaret, Bathieu, Entrèves, Petite Golette, Grande Golette, Pont Serrand, Arly, Les Granges, La Joux, Pierre-carrée, Preyllon, Les Suches, Petit-Saint-Bernard, Petosan, Faubourg, Preylet
Area
 • Total
125 km2 (48 sq mi)
Elevation
1,450 m (4,760 ft)
Population
 (31 December 2022)[3]
 • Total
790[1]
DemonymThuileins
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
11016
Dialing code0165
Patron saintSaint Nicholas
Saint day9 May

Geography

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Dent du Géant and Grandes Jorasses seen from Petosan
 
Rutor waterfalls

La Thuile is located in the Alps at the extreme north-west of the country, close to the French alpine town of La Rosière. The town is crossed by the road going from Pré-Saint-Didier in the north-west up to the Little St Bernard Pass in the south-east linking Italy to Bourg-Saint-Maurice and the Isère Valley in France.

Economy

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Coal mining (anthracite) was important in the area before World War II, many diggings and old mining structures can be seen around the village. Nowadays, La Thuile depends on tourism, in winter as one of the main Italian Alpine ski resorts linked with La Rosière, as well as in summer (hiking).

Events

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La Thuile has been the venue for several major annual international winter conferences: "Les Rencontres de Physique de la Vallée d'Aoste" organized by Italy's Institute of Nuclear Physics, and "Rencontres de Moriond" organized by the French National institute of nuclear and particle physics (IN2P3).

In February 2016 the slopes of La Thuile hosted, for the first time in history, three competitions (two downhill and one super G) valid for the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup female. In 2020, the female worldcup returned to the 3 Franco Berthod on Saturday 29 February and Sunday 1 March 2020, respectively with the downhill and the super-G, but the latter was cancelled due to bad weather.

Enduro World series visited La Thuile in 2014 and hosted round 4 of the Enduro World Series in 2016.

Transportation

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Public transportation includes regular buses connecting La Thuile to Pré-Saint-Didier, the latter has a railway station connected to the Italian railway network via Aosta. One of the closest airports is Geneva International Airport approximately 120 km (75 mi) away.

 
Panoramic view of La Thuile

International relations

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Twin towns – Sister cities

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La Thuile is twinned with:

References

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  1. ^ Dato Istat (in Italian) - Population as of 31 December 2010.
  2. ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. ^ Lo gnalei - Guichet linguistique de la Vallée d'Aoste