Meet the Walsers, the Germanic People of Piedmont and Aosta Valley

Mystery shrouds the migration of the Walser people from the Valais region of Switzerland to the valleys of northern Piedmont and Aosta Valley in the 12th and 13th centuries. No one knows for certain why they settled below the Monte Rosa massif. Some theories believe overpopulation compelled them to find free land; others that climatic changes in the Middle Ages allowed previously impassable areas to be crossed; and still others connect it to advantageous agreements with