On the edge of France, full of neighboring stories, the Alps are there in their southern splendor; with the ancestral commercial paths of which the rock traces bear witness to this a little. And the baroque villages of ancient Savoy are still from Italy.
Peïra-Cava and the region
(Alpes-Maritimes)
June 10 to 24, 2017
... and a brief history of the Alpes Maritimes
Small introduction for the visit of the north of the Alpes-Maritimes
Like a young girl's skirt rolled up by a mutinous wind, the Franco-Italian border is flying away, in the extreme south-east of France.
Its layout has undergone many avatars since Antiquity.
For a long time it was porous, unstable, moving, even indefinable.
Backed by its relief which rises from the sea towards the Alps to the north at more than 3000 m, the region was the natural east-west land passage between Italy and Spain via the successive kingdoms of France, that also in the axis north-south of the precious salt road between Hyères and Turin, but also maritime access to the old sea. Enough issues to understand the reasons for the struggles between the neighboring main powers who are trying to conquer and subdue it throughout history.
However, the region has always endeavored to preserve a kind of autonomy.
She erected in small local republics, in consulates or vigueries its largest villages, which were placed under the influence of neighbor to the immediate north, the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, born of the duchy of Savoy, in whom she recognized geopolitical similarities.
Struggling for a long time against the heavy hegemony of western Provence and then of the kingdom of France, she felt more Ligurian or Piedmontese than Occitan affinities, despite her ancestral language which says rather the reverse.
In any case, shaped by its climate and its relief, the hinterland offers today, on the French side, whose eastern fringe remained Italian until 1947, a beautiful and very estimable quality of life, less than an hour from the inextricable and arrogant Côte d'Azur, with its furnaces and crowded beaches.
It suffices to climb countless switchbacks to reach havens of silence, pure air and freshness; in Peïra-Cava for example, a small fallen winter resort; or to walk the superb alpine slopes that embellish like a party the massive wild rhododendrons, between which the chamois frolic or watch for the marmots, before reaching the soothing and windy plateau of mountain lakes.
Above, the abraded glacial rocks keep the memory of older presences, the rock engravings of the Vallée des Merveilles.
Everywhere villages conceal on their rocky outcrop of beautiful little Baroque treasures, picturesque passages, luminous squares with wash-houses and fountains, arcades and Italian facades.
A salutary revenge from the high countries, marked with the seal of authenticity, they which were for a while (late 19th century and current 20th century) emptied of their inhabitants for the benefit of the coast and artifices of the almost mega (lo) pole of the south.
Summary bibliography, in bulk and certainly not exhaustive
- in Wikipedia, History of Provence, History of Nice, Peïra-Cava, History of the Alpes-Maritimes, La Vallée des Merveilles, Notre Dame de Fenestre, and for the villages visited
- Provence in the 1939-1945 war : "http://fresques.ina.fr/reperes-mediterraneens/parcours/0003/la-provence-dans-la-guerre-1939-1945.html"
- Louis XIV in Savoy, alliance of August 29, 1696: "http://chrisagde.free.fr/bourb/l14guerre.php3?page=18"
- From the salt road to the Royal Way: History of the Roya valley ; "http://ekladata.com/Wyt_sJnOJNcbwKjhGdr2VDpjybU.pdf"
- Franco-Savoyard War (1590-1600) ; "http://jean.gallian.free.fr/bell2/histoire/partie2/ch20.html"
- Salt of the Camargue in the Middle Ages by Alain Venturini, at the Presses Universitaires de Rennes; "http://books.openedition.org/pur/7636"
- and source of life salt: in " http://als.univ-lorraine.fr/files/conferences/dossiers/21mai2011/05-Sel&Alimentation.pdf" and in "aigucev.free.fr/La%20route%20du % 20sel1.htm "
- 1848-1870 the Italian unit on the march , in "herodote.net"; "https://www.herodote.net/1848_1870-synthese-183.php"
- about the engravings of the Vallée des Merveilles:
* "http://www.hominides.com/html/lieux/vallee-des-merveilles-gravures.php"
* "http://geologierandonneurs.fr/conferences/bego.pdf"
* "the world of CLIO ";
* in Télérama from 07/15/2011: "http://www.telerama.fr/monde/dans-la-vallee-des-merveilles-les- graffs-du-diable, 71144.php "
* in Le Monde: "http://www.lemonde.fr/voyage/article/2011/01/13/mercantour-les-saintes- writings-of-the-valley-of-wonders_1462574_3546.html "
* in GEO: "http://www.geo.fr/photos/reportages-geo/alpes-maritimes-l-enigme-de-pierre-de-la- valley-of-wonders-175968 "
- Historical atlas of the Alpes-Maritimes department: "https://www.departement06.fr/aide-a-la-recherche/cartes-de-geographie-h historique-4380.html"
- on the evolution of the Alpes-Maritimes: " https://www.departement06.fr/documents/Import/decouvert-les-am/rr178-villegiaturehautpays.pdf"
- on the Mercantour Park, genesis, organization ...: "http://www.mercantour.eu/index.php/presentation/territoire"
- on the "minière de Vallauria": "http://traces.univ-tlse2.fr/accueil-traces/equipes-de-recherche/metal-histoire-et-archeologie-du-metal/miniere-de-vallauria- alpes-maritimes-france - 55918.kjsp "
- on our guide to the Vallée des Merveilles, his site: "http://www.panzamerveilles.com/excursions/vallee-des-merveilles.html"
- on the glacial evolution of the Alps since the time of the mammoths, conference by Sylvain COUTTERAND from the CNRS of February 2015 at the University of Rouen: " https://webtv.univ-rouen.fr/videos/100-000-ans-dhistoire-des-glaciers-des-alpes-du-temps-des-mammouths-a -today/"
- a traitor adjutant in Peïra-Cava in "The independent of Mascara", n ° 373 of January 15, 1888.
- on the fortifications of Authion : " http://terres-d-aqui.overblog.com/les-forts-de-l-authion" and "http://amontcev.free.fr/l'authion. htm # _ftnref18 "