In a far distant past, Aosta was known as Augusta Praetoria Salassorum. Founded by the Romans in 25 BC, Aosta is the second Italian city with the largest number of Roman ruins still visible - in fact, it is sometimes called ‘Rome of the Alps,’ being located near the mountains in the north-western tiny region of Val d’Aosta, close to the French border. 

The ancient town walls, which date from the Roman period, are still preserved almost in their entirety. You can walk alongside them for three kilometers. One of the most important monuments from the Roman era is the imposing Arch of Augustus, erected to celebrate both the defeat of the Salassi, a Celtic tribe that had settled the area before the Romans conquered it, and the birth of a colony that was to act as a defensive bulwark for the Roman Empire on the Italian side of the Alps.