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In proximity of the Pont d’Ael hamlet, on the right side of the road leading up to Cogne from Aymavilles, an aqueduct-bridge in masonry and stone blocks built above the Grand-Eyvia stream gives evidence of the magnificence of the works realised during the Roman era, measuring 56 metres in height and more than 50 metres in length.
The monument had a double function of bridge and acqueduct and was consequently built on two different levels: a drain for canalizing water in the upper part and a covered passageway of about 1 meter width in the lower section, allowing the transit of men and animals.
An inscription on the northern front attributes the building’s construction at the year 3 B.C., to the private initiative of Caius Avillius Caimus, coming from Patavium (Padua): belonging to a well-off gens, he could invest in the mining activity for digging out the “bardiglio” marble, widely used in the erection of private and public buildings in the town of Aosta. The acqueduct-bridge played therefore a fundamental role in the extraction and processing of the marble of the local quarries.
The recent research and restoration works of the Pont d’Ael site, have consisted in archaeological excavations, as well as in the complete conservative renovation of the roman aqueduct-bridge and in recovering an adjacent building destined to become the site’s interpretation Centre.
The renovation project has allowed to create a visit itinerary following the original ring, permitting the visitors to pass on the above walkway, enter in the covered passage from the left river and go out from the right one, where a stretch of the ancient Roman service road, nowadays partially destructed, will be reproduced in the natural rock.