In 1227 the Vallaise granted Issime a local statute with special privileges, and it stayed in force until 1773. From the thirteenth century the village also had a court: on the square of Duarf, the main settlement, a judge and two councillors administered justice on behalf of the barons.
Here the Walser settlers mixed with the Franco-Provençal population and töitschu was born, still spoken today; the typical houses, the Städel, are best seen in the San Grato and Bourines valleys. On 7 December 1943 the carabinieri arrested in Issime the family of the lawyer Remo Jona, who had holidayed here since 1936: they were deported to Auschwitz and only he came back. Today the 422 residents live in the middle Lys valley.
Chiesa di San Giacomo
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Next up: Saint James, patron called «Sent Joapuk» in Töitschu of a multilingual Walser town, Sunday 25 July
Nearest airport: Torino Caselle, 56 km away
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📅 Every year, on 25 July (last week of July); winter feast of Saint Sebastian
Issime celebrates Saint James, called Sent Joapuk in Töitschu, on 25 July; the parish church dedicated to him, in the hamlet of Duarf, holds the second-largest Baroque altar in the Aosta Valley, with 182 statues.
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 Issime, but an easy day trip away.
