Ayas ( or ; Gressoney ; between 1939 and 1945) is a comune sparso in the Aosta Valley region of northwestern Italy, with 1359 inhabitants in 2010.
Geography
It is made up of several frazioni (locally officially called hameaux, in French), the two major ones being Antagnod which holds the town hall and the main parish, and Champoluc. All the frazioni of Ayas were combined under the one jurisdictional parish of Saint-Martin d'Antagnod in 1761. They remained combined in this way until the new parish of Sainte-Anne of Champoluc was built in 1946. The comune of Ayas lies up the Ayas valley from Brusson.
Physical geography
The comune of Ayas occupies the upper part of the homonymous valley at the feet of the great peaks of the Pennine Alps, which separate it from Zermatt in the Mattertal (Switzerland) and mark the border between Italy and Switzerland. The most notable of these peaks are Castor (4,226 m), Pollux (4,091 m) and the Breithorn (4,165 m).
Another important glacier is the Grand Glacier of Verra. It is the principal source of the Évançon, which flows down the Val d'Ayas and empties into the Dora Baltea ().
In the opposite direction from the Monte Rosa Massif is Dzerbion, a 2,720 metre mountain in the shape of a pyramid, which separated the comune of Ayas from that of Saint-Vincent.
Seismic classification: zone 4 (very low seismicity)
Flora and fauna
With respect to flora, the landscape of Ayas is dominated by various species of Alpine plant, such as the cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), the gentian (Gentiana acaulis) and the spring pasque flower (Pulsatilla vernalis). The main trees in the woods are the European spruce (Picea abies), the Swiss pine (Pinus cembra) and the European larch (Larix decidua).
The fauna which inhabits the area of Ayas is very varied too. There are marmots in the remote parts of the territory, squirrels and foxes in the woods, and golden eagles in the sky. The rivers and lakes are characterised by freshwater fish, like the marble trout.
History
The Latin name is Agatius which seems to be the name of the first Roman colony. However, the etymology of the name is uncertain - there are many opinions. For example, Ayas could be cognate with the river Ayasse in the Champorcher Valley, deriving from the Latin adjective aquatica. Another theory is that it might derive from giàs, Piedmontese for "livestock pen".
As for the earliest human settlement in the valley, it is thought that Ayas was initially populated by the Salassi. These people practiced agriculture, pastoralism, hunting and fishing up to the Roman conquest in around 25 BC. The Val d'Ayas became an important route to other territories of the Empire. Later this role was consolidated and the connections with Valais were expanded. As a result of these connections, Ayas later became known as Krämertal (Merchant Valley).
Around 515, the territory of Ayas became part of the fief controlled by the monks of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune, of Burgundian origin. This group imposed Christianity on the peasantry of Ayas. This is the period when the first churches were built and the roads connecting the villages were expanded. Later the control of the Church over Ayas was strengthened, until the Pope gave total control of the valley to the Bishop of Aosta, Aymon of Quart in a Papal bull of 1776. This is the first certain attestation of Ayas.
At the same time as the arrival of the Burgundians in the sixth century, came a migration of Walsers (a group of Germanic origin) into the valley, in particular to Saint-Jacques which is locally known as the Canton des Allemands (French for "Canton of the Germans"). A second migration occurred in the twelfth century. This migration has left traces in the architecture, which is similar to that of Valais and of the upper Lys Valley, and in the language of the upper val d'Ayas, which is very different from the other varieties of Valdôtain in phonology and vocabulary.
Around 1200 the land of the family of Graines, which then controlled Ayas, was sold to the Challant family, viscounts of Aosta. A good portion of the val d'Ayas thus came into the possession of the Challant family and received the name "Vallée de Challant-Ayas". However the valley was not completely controlled by this powerful feudal family - the Abbey of St Maurice had ultimate sovereignty over the land. The Challant family governed the Val d'Ayas until the eighteenth century when their weakened members lost control of it. Thereafter the valley became part of the Duchy of Savoy and was administered by the church, which controlled many parishes along the whole valley.