In the suggestive spaces of the historic museum, which is a research spot for the cultural identity of Pragelato and the valorization of the costume and language, a series of everyday objects are collected and presented in different environments: the stable, the kitchen, the bedroom, the barn, the cellar and the characteristic “croutin”.
Settings where one breathes the past and relives scenes of past ordinary life, the diligence of the mountain people and their vital inclination toward a community life; settings that showcase even household linens, workwear, and the ancient costumes used for special occasions.
The clothes and costumes of Pragelato took their current characteristics and shapes from the progressive overlap of the Francophone Savoyard culture to the pre-existing Escartonese Francophone – Provençal – Alpine culture.
Here you can have a taste of all the wonders of the park… from geology, to wilderness and vegetation going through the fascinating story of the Beth mines.
The county of Pragelato is made up of 19 villages, some still habited, others inhabited but that document the type of life that animated this valley in the past. By visiting the different villages one can admire the architectural and cultural customs of Pragelato, imagining the past life the people used to conduct here. All villages are historically made up of a church, a common bakery, which many still use nowadays during their village celebrations, and many fountains ( some of which belong to 1700) that gather the pure water from our springs.
Located on the left orographic side of the Chisone torrent, a few km away from Pragelato, is the land of murales.
Along the main road, you’ll find constructions of the ‘700, renovated or under construction, the bakery, many murales, some fountains, the main wash house and further on, on the Rio of Usseaux, the renovated and now functioning mill. In addition to Usseaux (the capital) even the other villages, like Laux or Balboutet… are worth seeing!
Forte di Fenestrelle entered the historic scenery in the autumn of 1727, when the engineer Ignazio Bertola, on request of the King Vittorio Amedeo II, presented the project of a fantastic handwork: a big wall, made of multiple fortifying works, to protect the Chisone Valley from enemy invasions.
Its architecture is unbelievable: the structure lays itself on the side of the mountain for over 3 km in length, with a total surface of 1.350.000 square meters and a height difference between the first and last construction of over 600 meters. Observing the integrity of the fortress, one realizes the uniqueness of this fortification for its magnitude compared to prior ones.
It’s possible to have interesting and suggestive guided tours of the internal area of the fortress; to reach its peak it’s necessary to climb over 4.000 steps!
Val Germanasca, a valley parallel to the Chisone one, is known for the presence of one of the richest mine basins of Europe, used to extract talc.
40 Km from Pragelato, the site offers visits to the dismissed underground talc mine of Paola and Gianna. The itineraries, which are partly done on foot and partly on a train almost 4 km long, offer the possibility to visitors to explore galleries and tunnels in an enthusiastic way.
Discover Mine (Paola mine): learn more about the theme farmer-miner and see how almost 200 years of extraction of the famous “White of the alps” (a rare and prestigious variety of talc) significantly affected this valley and the extractive industry in Italy. Discover Alps (Gianna Mine): thanks to an important border line between the two distinct geological units, it allows to recreate the birth of the chain of the alp mountains from within, where the elements that generated them are visible and tangible.
In addition to the underground visits, it’s possible to visit the permanent museum exhibition in the industrial buildings and areas near the entrance of the Paola Mine.
Around 80 km away from Pragelato, it’s one of the most scenographic monuments of all Piedmont, and as such, it has been appointed as the symbol of the region. Perched on the top of Mount Pirchiariano, it dominates the Susa Valley from its 962 meters of height and gives to the valley an unmistakable and suggestive skyline.
Founded between 983 and 987, it’s in the middle of a pilgrimage path of over 2.000 km, that connects almost all of the western europe from Mont- Saint- Michel to Monte Sant’Angelo.
It’s one of the greatest religious architectural complexes of the romantic era in Europe.
