What is Bard known for?

Three-tier Savoy fortress rebuilt 1830-1838 between 400 and 467 metres above the village, now Museo delle Alpi and exhibition complex. Around 400 Austro-Piedmontese soldiers held the older fort for two weeks against Napoleon's 40,000-strong Army of Reserve, delaying the descent on the Po Valley. One of Italy's smallest Borghi più Belli, a single medieval street with fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mansions and roughly a hundred people.

Bard is a comune in the province of Aosta Valley, Aosta Valley region of Italy, about 73 kilometers from Torino.

Aosta Valley · Aosta Valley

Bard

A 108-person village under the largest Savoy fortress in the Alps, where 400 soldiers held off Napoleon's 40,000 for two weeks in 1800.

73 km / 45 mi

Nearest hub (Torino)

108

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Bard sits at the entrance of the Aosta Valley, a single medieval street wedged between the Dora Baltea river and a rocky prominence carrying one of the largest Savoy fortifications in the Alps. The current Forte di Bard was built by Charles Albert of Savoy between 1830 and 1838, on the site of a tenth-century castle that itself replaced a fifth-century structure attributed to Theodoric. In May 1800, the previous fortress held back Napoleon's 40,000-strong Army of Reserve with roughly 400 Austro-Piedmontese soldiers, delaying the surprise attack on the Po Valley by two weeks. Napoleon ordered the fort demolished after he took it. The bullet holes from the 1800 siege are still visible on the façade of Palazzo Nicole. The historic village below holds elegant fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mansions along a single main street, with 108 people living among them. Since 2006, the fortress has reopened as the Museo delle Alpi.

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Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Forte di Bard
Savoy fortress rebuilt by Charles Albert between 1830 and 1838 on three terraced levels, housing the Museo delle Alpi since 2006.
Museo delle Alpi
Permanent museum inside the fortress, dedicated to the Alps as a geographical, cultural and human space, with rotating contemporary art exhibitions.
Borgo medievale di Bard
Medieval village stretched along a single main street, lined with fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mansions and noble houses below the fortress rock.
Palazzo Nicole
Sixteenth-century mansion on the main street, with bullet holes from the 1800 siege still visible on its façade.
Chiesa parrocchiale dell'Assunzione
Parish church of the borgo, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, rebuilt several times above the medieval village core.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June is the gentlest season at the mouth of the valley, with the Forte di Bard exhibitions in full programme and the Dora Baltea running high from the snowmelt. September and October bring the autumn calendar at the fortress and cool, clear walking weather. July and August are warm and busier with day visitors arriving from the A5 motorway exit. November through March is quiet. The fort remains open most weekends but several village restaurants close. Winter fog tends to settle over the Dora Baltea and rises against the fortress rock at first light, the standard photograph of Bard from December through February.