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Saint-Vincent

Description

The town's name honors the patron saint of the place, San Vincenzo. A famous tourist resort and a hydrotherapy center located in the middle valley of the Dora Baltea, leaning into a basin at the foot of Mont Zerbion. Saint Vincent is surrounded by vineyards, chestnut groves and pine trees. The mild climate combines hiking along the "hill" between the Dora and the Col de Joux with its 1640 meters of height, an old transit point between the central valley and the valleys of Ayas and Gressoney. Interesting is also the tour to the Roman bridge and Celtic rock area.
Probably of Roman origin, the village was a fief of Challant in medieval times, which later became a possession of the Savoy. A source of thermal water, of crucial importance for the town, was discovered in the Summer of 1770 by Abbot Jean Baptiste Perret, originally from Saint Vincent. The priest, intrigued by how some cows grazing disliked reddish and micaceous water that flowed from the nearby rocks, so he had it analyzed. The water was much more mineralized than others, the priest bought the source and a few years later, the Duke of Aosta installed a series of tanks and faucets to allow a more rational use of the source. The following years saw an improve of the access roads to the center that became, soon, a get together place of nobles, famous people and prelates. In 1826 it a second source was discovered, and in 1842 an establishment with public baths and a casino was built, open only in Summer, with rooms where they held dances, concerts and other leisure activities to entertain the guests' stay. Twenty years after a larger hydrotherapy plant was built with 80 rooms, dining rooms, reading rooms and billiards. Expanded in 1900, today to 2,600 square meters, the building also includes medical offices, laboratories, a bar-restaurant and a park and a funicular railway that connects the main center to the spa. The casino opened in 1957, was expanded in 1982 and today covers an area of 3500 square meters containing all sorts of fun and events of cultural appeal.

Not to miss:

The Church of San Vincenzo, built by the Benedictines in 1150. It was built over an earlier structure dating from 300-400 AD, probably a Roman villa with attached bath building or a Roman public bath building. Part of the ruins are still visible below the new glassed floors. It has been refurbished several times and, in modern times, restored. The church, located in via Chanoux, features a crypt of the XI, an octagonal shaped building with three small naves decorated with stone columns and capitals dating from the VIII century. The frescoes are the oldest ones of the area dating from the XV century, located in the northern apse and attributed to Jacob Jacquerio and Giacomino from Ivrea. On these works in the XVI century the artist Filippo Varallo added a series of decorations still visible today. In the nave, the columns are of various shapes and the old arch above the altar features a bronze Christ of Luciano Minguzzi. In 1983 a museum was created adjacent to the church to preserve the most important finds from the Church of Moron and chapels of the area.
The ruins of the Roman bridge over the stream Cillian are visible along the road to Montjovet. Of the original building remains only the left side.
The Castle of Ussel, built in the XIV century.
The Chapel in Memory of the Partisans in Amay, located along the road to the Col de Joux at short distance from Amay. It was built in memory of the young partisans of Saint Vincent, killed and buried in this area.
The Church of Moron, located in the district with the same name, dates from the XV century and was built over an earlier building, probably Roman. It presents a wide circular apse with a vault lined with stone elements.
The small Chapel of Our Lady on Mount Zerbion, a 7 meter tall votive statue of the artist Bistolfi, placed here at 2722 meters by the women of Chatillon and Saint Vincent during the First World War.

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