Things to See in Cogne | 2 Monuments & Landmarks

All the monuments in Cogne

The landmarks and masterpieces worth planning a day around.

Alpenglow on the Gran Paradiso massif mirrored in an alpine lake

Parco Nazionale del Gran ParadisoGran Paradiso National ParkItaly's first national park, Alpine ibex herds, Cogne valleys, the only 4,000-meter summit entirely on Italian soilKing Victor Emmanuel II declared this stretch of the Graian Alps his personal hunting reserve in 1856, specifically to protect the Alpine ibex, which by then had been hunted down to perhaps 60 surviving animals across the entire range, prized for supposed medicinal properties in charms cut from a small bone near the ibex heart. His grandson Victor Emmanuel III donated the land to the Italian state in 1922, making it, at just shy of its centenary, Italy's oldest national park, and the same paths the royal guards once cut to move between hunting stations now form part of 724 kilometers of marked trails. From the village of Cogne, the most popular base on the park's Aosta Valley side, trails climb through larch forest toward alpine meadows where ibex still graze in view of hikers, beneath Gran Paradiso itself, at 4,061 meters the only summit entirely on Italian soil to clear 4,000 meters.Plan the visit

Giardino Botanico Alpino ParadisiaHidden GemParadisia Alpine Botanical Garden1,000+ alpine species, mountain habitats, Gran Paradiso views, mid-summer floweringParadisia grows in Valnontey, a side valley of Cogne at 1,700 meters, inside the Gran Paradiso National Park. Founded in 1955 as the park’s alpine garden, it recreates natural mountain habitats across about 10,000 square meters and holds more than a thousand species, with rockeries, a lichen exhibit, a butterfly garden and a bed of medicinal plants. The Gran Paradiso massif frames the beds, and flowering peaks from mid-June to mid-July, when the rockeries turn into the Alps in miniature. It is a short, easy visit that pairs well with a walk further up the valley.

The Cogne guide

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