LA COMBE DE SAVOIE – Site 16

Arbin

As early as 121 BC, the Romans subdued the Allobroges and incorporated them into Gallia Narbonensis, and then into the Consular Province of Vienna. What would become Savoy then formed an important crossroads linking Italy to Geneva and Vienna. The Allobroges and the Romans merged together, and gave shape to a Gallo‐Roman culture. The Allobroges knew how to cultivate vineyards. They especially knew how to produce a grape variety close to the local Mondeuse which accounts for the current fame of Arbin. They also knew how to work iron.
In Arbin, there used to be one of the Roman stations which were placed all along the secondary Roman road linking the cities of Mediolanum (Milan) to Vienna over the Petit‐Saint‐Bernard Pass. The Romans had brought the hydraulic wheel. Consequently, mills were built in Arbin where the Crousaz (or ‘Crousa’) river flows.
In 1869 and 1870, excavations revealed the traces of a Gallo‐Roman villa from the second century which had about 70 rooms – some of which were decorated with large mosaics. More recently, between 1970 and 1972, a great many coins, ceramic pieces, glass fragments, iron‐made objects, and ornaments were excavated. New systematic searches carried out between 1977 and 1981 enabled the discovery of new buildings and of the outline of a complex and well‐preserved hydraulic network (adduction systems, basins, and drainage pipes).