Roman Arch and Road of Donnas

The former Roman road led through the Aosta Valley and past Donnas. This road connected Rome with the Rhône Valley. Remains of this Roman road can still be seen today on the outskirts of Donnas.
Over a length of over 100 m, you can still see the tracks of the carts that have truly carved furrows into the rock.
On the rock wall you can see a column-like shape. These are the remains of a milestone. The carved Roman numerals XXXVI indicate the distance. The distance from Donnas to Aosta was previously given as 36 miles.

To the west of the village of Donnas, a few meters from the chapel of Sant'Orso, where the road inevitably ran alongside the course of the Dora, stands the Roman arch, dug and cut into the rock and which forms part of the mountain like a natural buttress; the road is carved for 221 meters in the rock, with a large arch that testifies to the cyclopean work carried out: the cut, narrated in the legend of the blacksmith of Donnas, in certain points exceeds twelve meters and traces of the levels reached by teams of stonemasons. The arch, built between 31 and 25 BC, measures approximately four meters in thickness and height and has a span of three metres. In the wall that flanks the road there is also the milestone carved with the Roman numeral XXXVI, indicating the miles that were counted starting from Aosta (Augusta Praetoria). You can also notice some steps that in the past were used to go down to the river bank where there was a mooring for boats.

Beautiful stone gate on the side of the road