From a medieval castle mound to the Alpine Maginot line, over 1000 years of history
of fortifications, numerous sites in Savoy show how this area served as a "Doorkeeper of the Alps", for the Duchy of Savoie
until 1860, and then for the French nation. The House of Savoy succeeded in keeping its independence by controlling the principal
routes to Italy and the most strategic passes.
The Vanoise National Park, France's first national park was created in in 1963.
Located between the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys, its culminating point, the Grande Casse (3855 m), is also the highest
summit in Savoy. The Park adjoins the Grand Paradis National Park (Italy) over 14 km. Together, they form the largest protected
area in Europe. Area: 53,000 hectares (central area). 600 km of marked paths, of which the GR5 and GR55 paths (Holland-Mediterranean).
Paths passable from June to October. Also check out the 7 discovery trails. 42 refuges (i.e. 1900 beds) in the Park and its
surroundings.
In addition to the national park, Savoy has designated a number of "Grand Sites," chosen for their remarkable
landscape, with the goal of restoring, protecting and enhancing them. They are open to the public and are essential aspects
of Savoy's natural and cultural heritage.
Travel Journal: When Travel Was Really An Adventure: Crossing Mt. Cenis,
by Thomas Martyn (1791)
In 1791, Thomas Martyn, a Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, published a practical guidebook,
"A Tour Through Italy." At that time, when Italy consisted of numerous city states and principalities, the tourist was faced
with a multitude of currencies, haggling over horses and carriages, and towns that literally closed up at night. Travel in
the mountains presented a distinct and sometimes dangerous challenge. The following excerpt describes the logistics involved
in crossing Mt Cenis, as well as a time when life in some Alpine valleys was hard and unhealthy.
"No sooner have
you passed the frontiers of France, than you perceive a change of country, climate and people. The mountains of Savoy afford
a new scene; woods, rocks, precipices, cascades and torrents, form views that charm an eye fond of rude nature: others find
this journey dreary and disagreeable; the road however is safe and good, and in many places even beautiful. From Pont-Beauvoisin
you go to Chambery, which, though the capital of Savoy, affords nothing worth seeing. The situation indeed is fine, in a wide,
delightful valley, where there is the greatest variety of objects that a fine country and mountains can produce: but it is
a poor dirty town; the houses dark, the streets narrow, the convents and other public buildings miserable.
Montmelian,
which is only a post and a half, or nine miles from Chambery, is also delightfully situated at the head of three valleys.
After this you meet nothing but wretched towns and villages, and a country of terrible poverty and filth. The honest, plain,
and thrifty Savoyards have very little land to cultivate, and look extremely unhealthy. Aiguebelle lies in a bottom closely
surrounded by mountains: it is but a poor straggling village: the water is clear, light, and sparkling.
After you
have passed Aiguebelle, goiters or swelled necks become frequent. The roads are pretty good, except through the towns, where
they are ill paved, and barely wide enough for a carriage to pass: indeed they are in general narrow, which is no wonder,
where there is so little land to spare: frequently you find no more room for this confined way between the steep mountain
and the torrent; and in some places they are obliged to hew it out of the rock itself. Whenever the valley widens a little,
you find a miserable village; and some of these, as if it were to spare their useful land for cultivation, are placed in the
very bed of the torrent, which occupies so large a portion of all that is not barren rock.
As you advance, the mountains
grow higher and more steep, till at length the road closes in a narrow gorge, and a very long and heavy ascent to Lannebourgh,
which is at the foot of Mount Cenis. There are about 220 houses in this village, and about 100 porters on the Syndic's lifts,
who are employed in their turns.
You should by all means have the whole day before you to cross Mount Cenis, that you
may not be hurried in the double operation of taking your carriage in pieces, and putting it together again; and that you
may have time in the evening to arrive at Suze; in which case, the next day you will easily reach Turin to dinner. The whole
passage of the mountain from Lannebourgh to Novaleze may easily be accomplished in four, or at most five hours; and has nothing
terrible in it, at least from May to October. In deep snow, in a violent tempest, and especially in a great thaw, there is
certainly some danger.
You have your option to pass over on mules, or in chaises-a-porteurs, which are rush-buttomed
elbow chairs, without legs; two men carry them by means of two poles, and they have a foot-board. These fellows are very strong
and nimble, never missing a step, but treading firm in the roughest ways with the agility of goats: they relieve each other
at proper intervals. In descending, they show great dexterity in the frequent windings of the mountain. From six to ten of
these men are assigned to each person, in proportion to his size.
The ascent is not bad, and is easily performed in
an hour and half. At the top is a plain, about five miles in length; it is a fine turf, and may be galloped over, not only
with perfect safety, but with pleasure. There is a beautiful lake on this plain, with excellent trout in it. It is often related,
as a wonderful circumstance, that there should be a lake on the top of Mount Cenis; but the truth is, that this plain is no
more than a very high valley or gorge of the mountain; and though it be indeed the highest part which travellers pass over,
yet there are lofty pikes, which rise at least 3000 feet above it.
You may stop at a public house by the hospital
to refresh the men; and having traversed the plain, you begin to descend into Piedmont. The prospect on each side of tall
firs, larches, and chestnut, of natural water-falls and roaring mountain rivers, affords a variety at once aweful and pleasing.
You will be two hours at least in getting to Novaleze; the descent is steep, but no where dangerous. Novaleze is a poor place,
with an indifferent inn, where is the first custom-house for Piedmont; and a stranger must take care not to have snuff, or
any new foreign commodities."
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