Above Ayas rise Castor, 4,226 metres, the Breithorn and Pollux: their ice feeds the great Verraz glacier, which in turn feeds the Évançon along the whole valley. Zermatt lies on the far side of the ridge, and for centuries ties with the Valais counted for more than those with the valley floor.
Around 515 the territory passed to the monks of the abbey of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune, who brought Christianity and the first churches: the earliest firm record of Ayas dates from that time. With the bull of 1176 the pope handed the valley to the bishop of Aosta; around 1200 the lands were sold to the Challant, who governed it until the eighteenth century. Today the 1,359 residents live under the Zerbion, the pyramid that separates them from Saint-Vincent.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Bosco
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Next up: Saint Martin of Tours, patron in the alpine hamlet of Antagnod, Wednesday 11 November
Nearest airport: Torino Caselle, 68 km away
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📅 Every year, on 11 November
Ayas celebrates Saint Martin of Tours on 11 November; his church, in the hamlet of Antagnod, with its distinctive bulb-shaped bell tower overlooking Piazza François-Marie Dandrès, was enlarged precisely at this parish priest's wish and houses frescoes and works of sacred art inside.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Ayas, but an easy day trip away.
