Page 4 - Guida della Valchisone

Roure is nestled among the Cozie alps, which streched around the Chisone riverbed, in the same named
valley, rising between 750 and 2890m. The name Roure defines all the territory belonging to the municipality,
it is a sparse municipality, and does not include among its hamlets a chief town with the same name.
The municipality consists of four main hamlets: Balma, Castel del Bosco, Roreto and Villaretto, and a huge
number of fascinating small vilalges. Among the most characteristic is the village of Chasteiran, in the valley
of Bourcet, which, with its daring buildings, is one of the most beautiful and best preserved alpine villages in
the valley. introduction
Bearing witness to the fact that fertile land has been inhabited since ancient times, there are post-Palaeolithic
finds found in the sites of Gran Faetto and Balm’Chanto dating back to the end of the 3rd millennium BC. The
first known documents on which the names of the municipality and its villages can be recognized date back to
the 11th cent. and belonged to the Savoy family. Since then, the commune was always a land on the border,
conquested and exchanged between the Delfinate and the Savoy, which alternate periods contended for the
territory.
The name of the municipality, Roure, comes from the Occitan language and literally means ‘Oak’. The resources
that enabled the municipality to develop were at first linked to pastoral farming, livestock farming and forestry
activities, and later, in the mid-IX cent. , the mining resources that led the municipality to the most expansive
years and progress. Among the many mines, we remember the Roussa’s mines that in 1901, allows the mu-
nicipality to reach its highest peak of 3,911 inhabitants, constituting one of the most important nuclei of the
whole valley. The mines were then closed in 1962.
The city’s territory is rich in recreational sports facilities and is well-known to sportsmen for its many climbing
cliffs and rock climbing gyms and the ‘via ferrata’, a mountain trail with some minor climbing difficulties, at the
entrance to the Bourcet Valley. Roure offers history, culture, sports and recreational activities as well as tran-
quility and relax to discover the colors of the seasons, the wonders of nature and the characteristic murals that
surround the major villages: the breeding in Vilaretto, the work of the mine in Balma, the old crafts in Roreto
and the history of the bread from the sowing of wheat to bakery products in Castel del Bosco.
All townships feature lavatories, crystalline water fountains, old bakery ovens which thanks to private indi-
viduals and associations sometimes continue to offer scents and fragrances of the past. In addition culinary
products and typical dishes can be enjoyed in local restaurants or can be found in small village shops. The
most typical dishes of the area are the ‘gofri’, a crisp honeycombed wafer to be enjoyed alone, with sweet or
savory dressings, and the Cajette/cagliette, gnocchi made by bread or potatoes flavored with sausage butter
and cloves.
All the territory is traversed by a lattice of paths and old mule tracks that formed the frame of the links between
the various townships and the cultivated terraces that now allow an innumerable amount of excursions.
Some of them have been kept in splendid conditions and running them, with a little fancy, it will not be difficult
to imagine our ancestors walking them with the hull on their shoulders filled with hay or with the sled load of
wood. This maze of paths allows comfortable walks around the countryside, excursions exploring the old villa-
ges and real high mountain climbing discover beautiful Alpine lakes such as Roussa lake, Manica and Moutta
lake or Ciardonet lake, or discovering fantastic panoramas from the peaks of almost 3,000 meters above sea
level like the Becco dell’Aquila, the Orsiera, the Cristalliera, the Rocciavrè or the Robinet.
The richness of emotions that this territory can give is confirmed and strengthened by two Alpine huts as well
as a landmark of the GTA: Rifugio Serafin placed in the Bourcet valley into Chasteiran village that is open from
spring to autumn, and the Rifugio Selleries, open all year long round located in the homonymous cone and
framed by the peaks of the Orsiera, Cristalliera and Rocciavrè.
Roure est une commune moyenned’environ 900 habitants qui se situe au milieu de la vallée de Chisone à
une altitude moyenne de 860m, traversée par le torrent du même nom.
Le territoire est composé de quatre hameaux principaux: Balma, Castel del Bosco, Roreto et Villaretto, et d’un
nombre important de petits hameaux qui sont désormais presque tous inhabités et abandonnés, parmi ceux-ci
le hameau de Chasteiran dans le vallon de Bourcet que l’on peut considérer comme un des villages alpins le plus
mieux conservé de la vallée.
Le territoire a été habité depuis les temps antiques, comme il a été prouvé à travers les pièces retrouvées sur
eme
les sites du ‘Gran Faeto’ de l’époque post-paléolithique et de Balm’Chanto datant de la fin du 3 millénaire
avant JC. Les premiers documents écrits qui ont été retrouvés sur lesquels sont cités les noms des territoires
remontent au XI sièc.dans la lignée de la famille de Savoie. Dès lors, le territoire fut toujours terre de frontière
entre le Dauphiné et la Savoie qui par période alternative se disputaient le territoire.
Le nom de Roure qui en langue occitane signifie Rouvre, en italien rovere, qui à son tour à l’origine latine robur-
roboris.
Dans la période fasciste le nom de la commune, trop français, et pas assez Italien, fut changé en ‘Roreto’ en
1937, puis en ‘Roreto Chisone’ en 1939, perdant ainsi le lien étymologique originel. Ce lien sémantique fut
maintenu par le chêne, dans le blason communal.