Stage town for the 4th time
Savoy mountain resort
Population: 1,150 (Valloirins or Valloirinches)
Personalities: Jean-Baptiste Grange (double world slalom champion in 2011 and 2015), Maud Gobert (French long-distance trail champion in 2015). Gilbert Chaumaz, a former Renault-Gitanes racer in the late 1970s, used to live here and returns regularly to St-Michel-de-Maurienne.
Specialities: diots de Valloire (made with carrots, beetroot and beef), farçons valloirins (a white cabbage dish with sultanas, prunes and apples). Cheeses: Borgé (made from raw cow's milk), Tomme de Valloire (recommended by Gault & Millau). La Galibier beer (France's highest quality craft brewery) has won numerous international awards.
Sport: Galibier-Thabor ski area (150 km of pistes). Events: Valloire Dynafit Vertical #2 (vertical kilometre ski mountaineering event), French fire brigade alpine skiing championships. June: Supergrandfondo Izoard-Galibier (June, cyclosportive), Punta Bagna Bike (June, gathering of Harley Valloire Dynafit Estivale (July, dry climb on foot and cyclo) August: Trail du Galibier (August). Cycling club: Cyclo Valloire-Galibier
Economy: winter-summer tourism (30 pc of the economy). 1st UCPA mountain centre for over 60 years. Opening of a 4* hotel in 2020 and a Club Med in 2021. Agropastoralism.
Festivals: international ice sculpture competition (January ), international competition of giant sculptures on straw and hay (July), Valloire Autrefois (July, traditional festival), baroque music festival (July), musical walks (July), Pic Sonne (August, free concerts, rock, jazz, blues).
Labels: Resort classified as a Tourisme-station verte / Village fleuri 1 / Villes et villages Amis Equipes de France Ski et Snowboard
Websites / Social networks: www.mairie-valloire.fr / www.valloire.net / www.saint-michel-de-maurienne.com / www.savoie-mont-blanc.com / https://www.facebook.com/valloiregalibier/ / https://twitter.com/valloire / https://www.instagram.com/valloiregalibier/
VALLOIRE AND CYCLING
More famous for its skiing champions than its cycling champions, Valloire is nevertheless well known to the peloton, which regularly passes through here when tackling or recovering from the Galibier climbs. The most famous cyclist in this pretty winter sports resort, which marks the turning point between the northern and southern Alps, is undoubtedly the priest who served there in 1922 and who, that year, lent his bike to Eugène Christophe. As happened to him more than once, the first holder of the Maillot Jaune had broken his fork on the descent of the pass and had to use this bicycle to make it to Geneva. The Tour de France has not only passed through Valloire, it has also stopped here three times, the first in 1972 for a short 53-km half-stage from Briançon, won by Eddy Merckx ahead of Joop Zoetemelk, who broke away with him in the final. In 1975, the peloton headed from Valloire towards Morzine-Avoriaz, where Spaniard Vicente Lopez-Carril won. In 2019, Nairo Quintana won a stage from Embrun. It was the Colombian's third and most recent Tour de France victory.
SIGHTS:
- Church of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption
Construction: 17th century.
Style: Savoy Baroque.
History: this church represents Savoy Baroque art of the 17th century, and was consecrated in 1682 by the Bishop of Maurienne, Monsignor Hercule Berzetti.
Features: sober on the outside, it is on the inside that this building reveals its decorations. In addition to the most characteristic Baroque features, such as the altarpiece on the main altar, the choir vault in gypsum and the secondary altarpieces, the church is richly decorated: crucifixion, altar paintings by the Dufour brothers, frescoes in the nave, etc.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1945.
- Straw and hay sculpture competition
For the last eight years in July, Valloire has been organising a unique artistic event in France, both festive and linked to its mountains. The theme is free, but the term "sculpture" is generic. In fact, it's a 'construction' filled and dressed with straw and hay. Twelve giant sculptures are created by teams of two sculptors on the Verneys plateau in Valloire. They can be seen throughout the summer. In a way, this competition is the heir and counterpart of the Valloire International Ice Sculpture Competition, the 33rd edition of which will be held in January 2025.
- Telegraphe Pass
Situated at an altitude of 1,560 m, it owes its name to its first occupations marked by the presence of the Chappe telegraph. Invented by abbot Claude Chappe (1763-1805), this device with articulated arms illustrated the progress of telegraphy linked to that of optics. It worked by observing signals transmitted from telegraph station to telegraph station, 5 to 15 kilometres apart, with long-sighted observation. The signals were encoded in sentences and words that could only be deciphered by the directors of the telegraph stations at the ends of the line, in the big cities.
- Telegraph Fort
Construction: 1884 to 1890.
History: the fort was built between 1886 and 1890, as part of the Séré de Rivières system. The fort was once called Fort Berwick in honour of a former 18th-century French marshal. The fort's position on the pass (then known as Col de l'Ébeyon) made it possible to counter the enemy coming from the Thabor, Galibier, Modane or Col des Encombres to defend the Alpine border against a threatening Italy and a triple alliance with Germany and Austria. During the Italian attack on 22 June 1940 (Battle of the Alps), the Telegraph fort was used as a base for the French counter-attack against the Italian assailants coming from the Névache valley, who were caught in a pincer movement.
Features: it includes an escarpment wall, surrounded by a ditch dug into the rock, barracks against the rocky massif, batteries on the work and low batteries equipped with an inclined plane for supplying materials and ammunition.
TO EAT:
- Diots de Valloire
Diots are sausages found throughout Savoie, but Valloire diots have the following composition: cabbage, carrot, onion, beetroot, beef and pork fat.
