Pila - Saint-Grat Hermitage

A white chapel surrounded by meadows at the forest edge at 1772 m above the sea level: this is Saint-Grat hermitage, dedicated to the bishop and patron Saint of the diocese of Aosta who lived during the V century AD.
The first documents about this place of worship date back to the XIII century; the chapel was enlarged and embellished in 1754, but a part of it was destroyed in April 1918 because of an avalanche. On the top of the bell tower there is a 3-metres high statue of the Saint, realised in 1853 by the Valdôtain artist B. Thomasset.
The hermitage can be reached by leaving from the Santa Colomba parish church in Charvensod through a path in the woods (route n. 102, 2h40 – 900 metres of elevation gain). To shorten both the length of the route and the drop it is possible to reach Pila by car or by gondola from Aosta.
In the occasion of the patron Saint celebrations, held during the night between 6th and 7th September, La route des jeunes takes place: it is a nice procession that starts from the church in Pila and arrives to the hermitage.