Ostana

Facing the north and east walls of Monviso, Ostana is a scatter of Occitan-speaking hamlets on a sunny slope of the upper Po valley. Depopulation shrank it from over a thousand people in the 1930s to a few dozen; in 2016 it celebrated its first birth in 28 years. Cobbled lanes and votive chapels link the hamlets, and each June the village awards a prize for writing in minority languages.

Highlights

• Views of Monviso's north and east faces
• The hamlet of Sant'Antonio, with date-carved stones on its huddled houses
• A medieval fresco in the small church of San Bernardo
• Premio Ostana, a June prize for writing in mother tongues
• Toma d'alpeggio cheese and potato and buckwheat polenta

Summary based on Wikipedia and Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA), written with AI assistance.