Located in the heart of Breil-sur-Roya, the gateway VeRo is designed as a space for welcoming visitors, exploration and interpretation. It invites visitors to get a first glimpse of the valleys even before setting out to explore them.
Much more than just an information centre, the gateway VeRo offers an immersive experience spread across two rooms, each providing a different perspective on the area.
In the first room, a fun and interactive display helps younger visitors get to know the village of Breil-sur-Roya. Using a tablet, children bring characters and animals to life in a digital reconstruction of the village. It’s a fun way to discover the area before setting out to explore it.
In the second room, a virtual reality headset invites visitors to fly over the Roya and Vermenagna valleys. The images reveal the diversity of this cross-border region: hilltop villages, railway structures, forests, rivers and Alpine landscapes. The viewer’s gaze follows the railway line, crosses bridges, passes through tunnels and traces the route taken for nearly a century by travellers between France and Italy.
This double immersion – enjoyable for children and contemplative thanks to virtual reality – enables visitors to grasp the Franco-Italian identity of the Roya and Vermenagna valleys before setting out to explore them. It invites everyone to view the surrounding landscapes in a new light and to understand the bonds that have always united the two sides of the Alps.
The Porte VeRo thus marks the transition from virtual discovery to real-life experience. It opens up a route where each stage builds on the previous one, until the journey itself becomes a way of discovering the heritage, at the pace of the train, walking and encounters with the region and its inhabitants.