Venaus sits in the Cenischia valley and first appears in the will of Abbo, dated 739, when the abbey of Novalesa handed the settlement over to Susa. The Strada Reale climbed from here towards the Mont Cenis and France, until in 1806 Napoleon's carriage road was opened higher up. Stretches of it survive, with the romanesque Esclosa bridge over the Cenischia.
In 1947, under the peace treaty, more than eighty square kilometres of the comune went to the French commune of Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis: the Italian side of the Mont Cenis pass, its lake and the hamlet of Gran Croce. Under fascism the village was renamed Venalzio, then took its old name back. The parish church of Saints Blaise and Agatha keeps fourteenth-century frescoes.
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📅 Every year, on 3 February (Saint Blaise) and 5 February (Saint Agatha), repeated the following Sunday
On 3 and 5 February Venaus celebrates its patrons Saint Blaise and Saint Agatha with the Danza degli Spadonari, repeated the following Sunday.
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 Venaus, but an easy day trip away.
