The lower Aosta Valley is a narrow corridor between high mountains, and every village in it has had to negotiate with the slope. Arnad occupies a widening of the valley floor, its houses of grey stone and slate scattered between the river and the terraces above, where vines, chestnut trees and meadows climb towards the woods. The Romanesque parish church, with its solid bell tower, is the oldest visible layer of a settlement whose position on the road towards the Alpine passes long gave it importance; the residences of the valley's noble families recall the feudal organisation that shaped the whole region. Arnad is also known well beyond the Alps for its cured lard, a protected speciality matured in wooden containers with mountain herbs — a food tradition born of the need to preserve. Filmed in 4K across the seasons, the programme portrays a village where architecture, agriculture and mountain life are inseparable.
