Sarre is a scattered Italian municipality of 4 759 inhabitants in the Aosta Valley. It is the most populated municipality in the region after the capital. The municipal seat is located in the hamlet of Tissoret.
The most imposing monument of the municipality is undoubtedly the
Castello di Sarre, in the locality of Lalex (pron. Lalé);
In the
locality of Arensod there was the homonymous fortress, which belonged to
the De Arenso or De Thora families, and was mentioned by the historian
Jean-Baptiste de Tillier. The contemporary historian André Zanotto does
not locate it and there is no current news of it. It is also called
Bizel or Bellair Manor
In the locality of Chésallet there is instead
the tower-altana of Chésallet.
The parish church of San Maurizio
The parish church of Sant'Eustachio de Chésallet
The medieval Priory
of Sainte-Hélène
Various chapels exist on the territory: Chapel of
Bellun, Chapel of Ville-sur-Sarre, Chapel of Champé, Chapel of the
castle, Chapel of the Vareille village
Administrative subdivisions
The territory of Sarre is officially
divided into three localities which in turn include various fractions:
Saarland (West area): Arensod, Bellair, Bellun, Blassinod, Charbonnière,
Clut, Crou Pernet, Fachet, Fochat, Grand-Cré, Janin, La Fontaine, La
Gorettaz, Lalex, Maillod, Moulin, Pertusat, Petit-Cré, Rovine ,
Sainte-Hélène, Saint-Maurice (capital), Tissoret (municipal seat),
Vareille, Vert;
Chésallet (East zone, towards Aosta): Angelin,
Baravod, Bétende, Beuvé, Challançon, Champlan, Clou, Conclonaz,
Condemine, Creutzet, Fareur, La Grenade, Lalaz, La Remise, Mondache,
Montan, Oveillan, Palue, Péravère, Piolet , Pléod, Poinsod, Pont
d'Avisod, Rigollet, Ronc, Rovarey, Salée, Tissière;
Ville-sur-Sarre
(upper part): Caillod, La Cort, Lein, Moulin, Remondet, Thouraz.
The territory of Sarre was probably inhabited since the Bronze Age,
probably due to the excellent exposure to the sun on the adret side,
which allows the cultivation of vines and orchards.
Traces of
protohistoric settlements were found near the town of Ville-sur-Sarre,
at an altitude of 1205 metres, and during the expansion works of the
municipal cemetery, located in the capital at Saint-Maurice, still in a
dominant position over the valley floor, at below a medieval building.
Other similar sites arose, in the second half of the Iron Age, along the
strip at the foot of the mountain which was then crossed by the Roman
consular road of Gaul. In Roman times, the Via delle Gallie passed
through Sarre, a Roman consular road built by Augustus to connect the Po
Valley with Gaul.
The Roman conquest and the foundation of
Augusta Prætoria Salassorum, today's Aosta, seem to coincide with the
abandonment and decline of these settlements. Confirmation of the
passage of the important Roman road is the discovery, in 1898, of a
milestone whose inscription indicates the distance of Aosta from Lyon
(200 miles) and of a travertine column dedicated to the emperors
Constantine and Licinius.
In the Middle Ages, the territory of
Sarre was placed under the jurisdiction of the lords of Bard. Among
these, Jacques de Bard, founder of the Sarre family, who around 1242
began construction work on the royal castle, which in 1869 became the
hunting lodge of King Vittorio Emanuele II, nicknamed "Le Roi chasseur"
(in French, Il king hunter), due to the important hunting trips in the
valleys of Cogne, Valsavarenche and Rhêmes, today territories of the
Gran Paradiso National Park.
Until 1783, the ecclesiastical
division of the commune of Sarre into two parishes, Saint-Maurice and
Saint-Eustache, also corresponded to the administrative division into
two communes: the commune of Chésallet was annexed to that of Sarre
which acquired, until 1799, the denomination of Sarre-Chésallet.
In 1849 King Carlo Alberto, abdicating after the defeat of Novara in
favor of his son Vittorio Emanuele II, assumed the title of Count of
Sarre from the name of the castle.
During the years of fascism,
the municipal district of Sarre was suppressed and aggregated with that
of Aosta. Its reconstitution took place on 30 April 1946 with a decree
of the President of the Council of Valle d'Aosta.
Sport climbing
Just beyond the castle of Sarre, above a railway
tunnel, is the "Tetto di Sarre", an overhanging rock slate at 45° on
which Alberto Gnerro created some of the hardest routes in Italy with
dug holds and redpointed , such as L'avaro (8c+/9a) and the first (or
second, after Underground a Massone) Italian 9a, Ground Zero.
Traditional sports
In this town both fiolet and rebatta are played,
characteristic traditional Aosta Valley sports.
Soccer
The
local football club is the A.S.D. Real Sarre, militant in the first
category championship. The club colors are white and blue. It plays its
matches on the municipal sports field of Agnesod which has a capacity of
2000 seats.