Gaby

Introduction

A mid-mountain municipality, located about halfway along the Lys valley, the one known above all as the Gressoney valley. From an administrative point of view, it was until 1952 a hamlet of Issime, called Issime-Saint-Michel or Ueberland for centuries.

Description

The village's main peculiarity is that it constitutes a Franco-Provençal enclave in Germanic-Walser territory; the dynamics of its origin remain to be determined, as does the exact etymology of the place name. Certainly, documents have handed down to us a presence in the Middle Ages of the powerful Vallaise family, who then ceded dominion to the local Troc-Drisquer nobles, whose surname betrays an initial fusion of the two ethnic groups present in the municipal territory: the local dialect itself, although of Franco-Provençal origin, is enriched with numerous terms of Walser derivation.
 A decisive period in the history of Gaby was the first decades of the 17th century, when, probably due to the plague of 1630, the original nucleus of Lihrla was abandoned and the village was rebuilt where the main town stands today, at Kiamourseyra. From the same period are also the most beautiful examples of local architecture, such as the house-fort of the Troc-Drisquer nobles, called Palatz, and the Albert house in Forvuill. There are also 37 granirs in the municipality, typical rural constructions famous under the Walser name of stadel.

Information

Area: 32.17 sq km
Altitude: 1047m
Maximum elevation:
Number of inhabitants: 475
Name in dialect: Goaby
Inhabitant name: gabesi, gabençois, gabistre
 Patron Saint: St Michael (29 September)
Internet site: www.comune.gaby.ao.en
Webcam:
Bordering municipalities: Andorno Micca, Brusson, Callabiana, Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Issime, Piedicavallo, Rassa, Sagliano Micca
 Villages and hamlets: Bouri, Chanton Desor, Chanton Desout, Chef-lieu (chief town), Crusmato, Gattinery, Gruba, Niel, Pont-de-Trentaz, Rubin, Serta Desor, Serta Desout, Tzen de la boa, Pro Du Toucco, Yair Desout, Moulin, Palatz, Halberpein, Voury, Yair Desor, Zappegly, Zuino
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