Courmayeur

Courmayeur, a town with a natural vocation for hospitality

Being accessible from France and Switzerland via La Seigne and Ferret mountain passes and lying in a poignantly strategic position at the confluence of the valleys Veny and Ferret on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, the area surrounding Courmayeur has attracted groups of travellers, merchants, pilgrims and soldiers since time immemorial.

These distinctive topographical features have endowed Courmayeur with a natural vocation for hospitality. Over the centuries hospitality  infrastructure designed to cater for both long-term and transitory tourism has gradually grown and improved. Although evidence suggests that very few hospitality facilities existed during the Middle Ages, Courmayeur’s fame grew during the 17th century thanks to the sulphate-alkaline-ferruginous properties of its spa waters which attracted a growing number of visitors, in particular the House of Savoy aristocracy.

Owing to the clientele’s fondness for this alpine location and the growing popularity of mountaineering, Courmayeur later developed into a ski resort on an international scale. The town’s first sizeable hotels appeared between the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, marking the start of a long and established tradition of the hospitality business.