Known as the 'Rome of the Alps', Aosta bears the mark of five centuries of Roman occupation. Discover the Arco di Augusto, or Arch of Augustus, alongside the city's ancient Roman theatre. The arch was raised at the eastern approach to the town to mark the Roman victory over the Salassi and the founding of Augusta Praetoria in 25 BCE, and it still spans the old road just outside the walls, a single bay framed by engaged Corinthian columns, its slate roof a later protective addition. A short walk away, the theatre's towering buttressed facade remains the city's most photographed Roman fragment, while gates, walls and the street grid of the colony survive within the modern town.
