As the Second World War drew to a close, one of the most critical problems facing the provisional Italian government was that of the postwar territorial integrity of Italy. On her borders Italy was threatened by the claims of Yugoslavia; by uncertainty about the Germanspeaking minority of the Trentino Alto-Adige that had come under Italian sovereignty only after the Versailles conference; by a growing separatist movement in Sicily that, while bizarre in its ultimate goal (annexation by the United States!), still presented an embarrassment; and finally by a French attempt to annex the Valle d'Aosta, in the extreme northwest of the country. The events surrounding Italy's problems with Yugoslavia are well known, as is the continuing problem of the Trentino Alto-Adige. Sicily as part of the Italian south has received attention in numerous volumes. However, what happened in the Valle d'Aosta is only partially known, with parts of the story scattered throughout several countries and several languages. This essay is a preliminary attempt to bring together some of this information, supplemented with some new material and personal interviews. Aside from the task of trying to chronicle the events inside the region during the period of liberation, this essay attempts to raise-as the events themselves do-the question of the relationship between language and a broader cultural pattern in determining the reaction of a minority when confronted with the fateful choice of which nation to associate itself with. Extensive treatment of this topic, is, of course, beyond the cope of this paper. However, as the events demonstrate, the Valle d'Aosta would be a fruitful area for research in this area.