Saint-Vincent (Sèn-Veuncein or Sein Vinsein in patois; Finze in the Töitschu variant of the Walser language) is an Italian town of 4,584 inhabitants in the eastern Aosta Valley. Given its centenary tourist vocation it is nicknamed the Riviera of the Alps.
The locality has important Roman remains, such as the bridge over the
Cillian stream, along the via delle Gallie, and the large 12th-century
Romanesque church. The crypt of Saint-Vincent dates back to the
pre-Romanesque period.
Church of San Vincenzo
The parish
church, consecrated to San Vincenzo and of Romanesque style dates back
to the XII century. According to the authoritative opinion of Alfredo
d'Andrade, it would have been a fortified church during the Middle Ages
and still shows traces of it.
Saint-Vincent became famous in the
second half of the 19th century for the presence of the thermal spring
discovered by Jean-Baptiste Perret in 1770. The "Fons Salutis" thermal
establishment was connected by a short funicular to the town center
(Piazza 28 Aprile). Subsequently, we recall the creation of an ephemeral
and pioneering trolleybus system, which from 1920 to 1925 connected the
Châtillon-Saint-Vincent railway station to the Saint-Vincent thermal
center, passing through the inhabited center of Châtillon.
Not
far from the Casino de la Vallée is the imposing Belle époque-style
building of the Grand Hotel Billia, a center of tourist attraction
especially in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks also to the renown of the
Terme di Saint-Vincent, once the site of the Casino, and still today a
luxury hotel.
The Villa Romolo and the Villa Quadro (late 19th
century) also bear witness to the great tourist era of Saint-Vincent.
Grand Hotel Billia
The Grand Hotel Billia is a historic hotel
built by Stefano Billia in 1908.
The Palais Saint Vincent
The
Palais Saint-Vincent is a small building where concerts and film
screenings take place, owned by the City of Saint-Vincent. The building
consists of a large geodesic structure. It is the largest indoor
structure in the Aosta Valley, the second as a structure for concerts
after the Croix-Noire Arena: it offers 1,600 seats and 2,000 standing
places.
In addition to numerous concerts by renowned artists,
events such as the International Magic Congress were also held at the
Palais, which in 2011 was accompanied by a competition live on Rai Uno.
It was inaugurated in 1999 in the presence of Lucio Dalla.
Archaeological sites and natural areas
Near the remains of the Roman
bridge, once along the Via delle Gallie, is the geosite of Tsailleun.
Saint-Vincent was a town much loved by Tommaso Landolfi, an assiduous
visitor to the gambling house, so much so that the writer dedicated a
travel article to it for Il Mondo, now collected in the volume If not
reality. The story Ottavio di Saint-Vincent also takes its title from
this.
Libraries
The municipal library is located in via Aurora
Vuillerminaz 7. Since 5 August 2019 it has been named after the Turin
writer Primo Levi.
The Mineralogical Museum, inaugurated in 1978, presents a collection
of 750 minerals and 170 fossils.
The Sacred Art Museum, set up in the
parish church in 1983
The photographic exhibition on the Carnival, of
historical and ethnographic interest, in the headquarters of the
Association of the Carnival of the Small
The civic gallery of modern
art, at the Couronne Hotel.
Events
Since the first edition in
1948, the first Italian journalism prize, the Premio Saint-Vincent for
journalism, has been organized in the municipality
From 1964 until
2003, Saint-Vincent hosted the finals of the singing event Un disco per
l'estate for several years
Saint-Vincent also hosted the final of the
1991 Games Without Borders.
The municipality of Saint-Vincent extends over the
territory surrounding the capital, located at the bottom of the
valley, from the bank of the Dora Baltea to the Col de Joux, which
connects it with the Val d'Ayas, and to Monte Zerbion.
Seismic classification: zone 3 (low seismicity) following the
introduction of the D.G.R. 1603/2013 in force starting on
11/21/2013.
The climate of Saint-Vincent is very similar to the climate of Aosta although less continental with milder and less snowy winters and hot but more breezy summers with the possibility of afternoon thunderstorms.
In
Roman times, the Via delle Gallie passed through Saint-Vincent, a
Roman consular road built by Augustus to connect the Po Valley with
Gaul.
In the Fascist era, the toponym was Italianized in San
Vincenzo della Fonte from 1939 to 1945.
The coat of arms and the banner were granted by decree of the
President of the Republic of 2 March 1984.
«Red, to the figure of
San Maurizio, represented in a natural wooden statue, accompanied by
three growing silver uprights, one at the tip and two to the right and
left of the statue, at the head of black, charged by the trifoliate
cross of 'silver; the Saint is portrayed dressed in a short tunic, with
his legs uncovered by chaps, knee pads and greaves, with his head
covered by a bascinet, and with his left hand the shield seen in
profile. Commune exterior ornaments.
The coat of arms is inspired
by the coat of arms of the noble Mistrals (or Mistralis), who lived in
Saint-Vincent between the beginning of the 15th and the beginning of the
18th century: gules, with three crescent silver uprights. At the center
of the shield is the wooden statue of San Maurizio from the 15th
century, currently kept in the parish museum, which comes from the
chapel of the village of Moron. The head with the Mauritian cross also
refers to the saint. Black and red are the colors of the Duchy of Aosta
and of the flag of the Region.
The gonfalon is a white cloth.
Services
The Casino de la Vallée has been in operation since 1946.
Soccer
The local football club is the "A.S.D. Saint-Vincent
Châtillon Calcio", a militant in the Promotion championship, the club
colors are blue and garnet. It plays its matches at the Perucca stadium,
which has a capacity of 3500 seats.
Traditional sports
In this
municipality both palet and tsan are played, both traditional Valle
d'Aosta sports.