A separate chapter in the Papal passion for the mountains consists of expeditions to the Aosta Valley. John Paul II first arrived there in 1986 during his first official visit to the northwest of Italy. Three years later, he returned to spend his vacations there. He spent two weeks hiking, praying in nature, and truly resting before embarking on the traditional summer period of Castel Gandolfo.
It was there, to the Aosta Valley, and more precisely to the picturesque, high-altitude town of Les Combes, next to the Gran Paradiso National Park, that he set off at the beginning of July in various years, a total of ten times. His faithful comrades’ gendarmes also left with us. In Les Combes to this day there is a house where he always stayed. He also spent his last vacation there.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
pages: 177
