Maurienne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maurienne is one of the provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
It is one of the great transverse valleys of the Alps. The river which has shaped the valley since the last glaciation is the Arc. The valley begins at the village of Écot (in the commune of Bonneval-sur-Arc) and continues to the foot of the Col de l'Iseran in the commune of Aiton.
The large Alpine hills which form the valley are:
- The Col de l'Iseran toward the Tarentaise Valley
- The Col du Mont-Cenis toward Italy
- The Col du Télégraphe and the Col du Galibier toward Briançon
- The Col de la Crois-de-Fer and the Col du Glandon toward Grenoble
- The Col de la Madeleine toward the Tarentaise
The capital, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, lies at the confluence of the Arc and the Arvan River. The other towns are Modane (pass of the High Maurienne) and Aiguebelle, which lies at the end of the valley.
Numerous ski resorts line the valley, from the small village resorts like Albiez-Montrond to the resorts built from scratch in the 1970s like Le Corbier and Les Karellis.
The territories of Maurienne and Tarentaise are classified as French towns and lands of Art and History.
[edit] The Haute-Maurienne
The high valley of the Arc is known as the Haute-Maurienne. It lies along the Italian border around 45 km in the region of Mont Cenis. The region has been known since deep antiquity and there are numerous traces of human habitation from the Paleolithic on. The principal town is Modane, an old frontier town, at the mouth of the Fréjus Road Tunnel and dominated by the resort of Val Fréjus. The other villages, rising up from the valley, are:
- le Bourget
- Avrieux
- Villarodin
- Aussois (ski resort)
- Bramans
- Sardières
- Sollières
- Termignon
- Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis, Lanslevillard (the two villages form the resort Val Cenis)
- Bessans (popular area for cross-country skiing and international biathlon stadium, unique in France)
- Bonneval-sur-Arc (area for Alpine skiing)
About 5000 inhabitants live there permanently, but the population reaches about 15,000 in the winter.
A good portion of the Haute-Maurienne is included in the Vanoise National Park, the first national park in France (established 1973) which borders the Gran Paradiso National Park of Italy. It is an important area for ibex, chamois, and golden eagle; the lammergeier was recently reintroduced into the area. It appears that the wolf has reached the region within the past five years.
