The ancient town walls of Augusta Prætoria Salassorum are still preserved almost in their entirety, enclosing a rectangle . They are high, built of concrete faced with small blocks of stone. At the bottom, the walls are nearly thick, and at the top .
Towers stand at angles to the
enceinte and others are positioned at intervals, with two at each of the four gates, making twenty towers in total. They are roughly square, and project from the wall. Of the 20 original towers, the following are well preserved: •
Tour du Lépreux (French for ''Leper's Tower
), was given this name after a leper called Pierre-Bernard Guasco who was jailed there in the late 17th century. Le lépreux de la cité d'Aoste'', a novel by
Xavier de Maistre, is also named after this leper. •
Tourneuve (13th century). •
Tour du Pailleron. • Tower (Castle) of Bramafan, built in the 11th century over a Roman bastion. It was the residence of the Savoy viscounts. In
Franco-Provençal,
Bramé la fan means "To scream for hunger". •
Tour du Baillage. •
Tour Fromage. The south and east
gates exist intact. The latter, a double gate with three arches flanked by two towers known as the Porta Praetoria (1st century AD) was the eastern gate to the city, and has preserved its original form apart from the marble covering. It is formed by two series of arches enclosing a small square. The rectangular arrangement of the
streets is modeled on a Roman plan dividing the town into 64 blocks (
insulae). The main road, about wide, divides the city into two equal halves, running from east to west. This arrangement makes it clear that guarding the road was the main raison d'être of the city. The
Roman theatre, of which the southern façade remains today, is tall. The structure, dating from the late reign of
Augustus, occupied an area of ; it could contain up to 4,000 spectators. In the nearby was the amphitheatre, built under
Claudius. A marketplace surrounded by storehouses on three sides with a
temple in the centre with two on the open (south) side, as well as a
thermae, have also been discovered. Outside the town walls is the
Arch of Augustus, a
triumphal arch in honour of
Augustus, built in 35 BC to celebrate the victory of consul Varro Murena over the Salassi. About to the west is a single-arched
Roman bridge, called the
Pont d'Aël. It has a closed passage, lighted by windows for foot passengers in winter, and above it an open footpath. There are considerable remains of the ancient road from
Eporedia (modern
Ivrea) to Augusta Praetoria into the
Aosta Valley. The modern
railway follows this route, notable for the
Pont Saint-Martin, which has a single arch with a span of and a roadway wide; the cutting of
Donnas; and the Roman bridges of Cillian (
Saint-Vincent), Aosta (
Pont de Pierre). Other sights include: •
Saint-Martin-de-Corléans Megalithic Area with artifacts and tombs dating to the
Neolithic era. • The
Cathedral, built in the 4th century and replaced in the 11th century by a new edifice dedicated to the Madonna. It is annexed to the Roman Forum. • The
Romanesque-
Gothic Collegiate church of Saint Ursus (Saint-Ours). Its most evocative feature is the cloister, which can be entered through a hall on the left of the façade. It is dedicated to
Ursus of Aosta. • The Saint-Bénin College, built about 1000 by the
Benedictines. It is now an exhibition site. • The
Bridge of Grand Arvou, a medieval
arch bridge-
aqueduct. ==Transport==