LA COMBE DE SAVOIE – Site 15a

Saint‐Pierre‐d’Albigny

Saint‐Pierre d’Albigny is the historic gateway to the Bauges mountains, via the paths leading to the Sciaz Pass or the Potat Pass and via the road to the Frêne Pass (950m), which was opened to vehicles in 1832.
From ancient times to the present day, this site has always been inhabited and cultivated – it especially consists of vineyards. Indeed, numerous archaeological sites from the Gallo‐Roman times, which are on the commune grounds, attest to the fact that there used to be a vicus (village) in that location before the Christian era. The Roman name Mantala, which appears on the Peutinger map, was probably Saint‐Pierred’Albigny or Saint‐Jean de la Porte. The village, which was probably destroyed during the invasions, emerged again in 1015 under the name of Albigny, with churches consecrated to St Peter and St John.
Saint‐Pierre rose to importance throughout the Middle‐Ages thanks to the fortress of Miolans which kept watch on all the major transalpine roads. Through their participation in the Crusades, the lords of Miolans became the owners of ‘three thorns from Christ’s crown’, and they thus contributed to the fame of the Augustine convent, located in the village, which they founded and where their graves were placed. The Augustine Burial Vault is the only remains of the church of the convent.
This important rural village was hit by plague epidemics and wars in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Thereafter, the nobles and bourgeois of Chambéry searched into Saint‐Pierre’s rich soil and famous vineyards, and built fine residences. In 1817, the opening of a small seminary transformed Saint‐ Pierre d’Albigny into the third most important location in Savoy and into an intellectual centre.