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Art and traditions

Savoie's traditional clothing

The strange and shimmering costumes from the Maurienne or the Tarentaise valleys, especially the "frontière" head piece have always astonished visitors. The details from the wealth of pieces and the great diversity of women's costumes show the different cultural identity of each neighboring village. Certain features of this clothing have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe.

Hearts and crosses

This richness also appears in the jewelry that accompanied women's dresses. They were made by local craftsmen from pieces of gold or silver money, according to family fortunes, but also according to age. Silver, a symbol of purity, was reserved for young girls. There are up to 14 different types of crosses in Savoie, of which the most common are the flat cross, the grid cross and "Jeannette" cross.

Life in the Alpine pastures

The Alpine pastures or "grande montagne", refer to the pastures between 1500 and 2500 m of altitude. During the "100 days" from June to September, cows belonging to the farmers in the valley are assembled into giant herds, occasionally as many as 200 head. These herds help maintain the mountain landscape. There are two types of operations in the "grande montagne": individually, where the shepherd rents the cows from farmers in the valley, and collectively where, at the end of the summer, the farmers share the gains from the sale of cheese.

Wines and gastronomy

In Savoie and Haute-Savoie, producers have made the definitive choice of high quality: the AOC (guaranteed label) and Savoie label of quality guarantee standards for local products.
Savoie has a lot to offer, including gastronomy at the high level of its traditional hospitality.

The wines of Savoie

"Perlant" bubbly wines are excellent for an aperitif and the whites go well with a cheese fondue, raclette, seafood, cheeses and cakes. The reds and rosés are excellent with venison, poultry, salted meats and Savoie cheeses.

White wines
The limestone soil of Savoie is excellent for the production of white wines. The region produces three time more white than red wine. The most representative variety of white wines, La Jacquère, prospers on the scree-covered slopes of Les Abymes and the rocky slopes of the Combe de Savoie. It gives the Apremont and Abymes vintages that have the "Perlant" guaranteed label. The "Roussettes de Savoie" are produced from "Altesse" grapes on the western slopes of the Mont du Chat. "La Roussanne" vines, planted a few kilometers further south, give the Chignin Bergeron.

Red wines
Gamay is cultivated in the plains of Chautagne to give the Gamay de Chautagne, and the most typical red, la Mondeuse, flourishes on the south slopes of les Bauges, from Fréterive to Arbin.

Cheeses from the pastures

Tasty cheeses such as Beaufort, Tomme de Savoie and Tome des Bauges are made from the raw milk of Tarine and Abondance cows. Reblochon, originally from Haute-Savoie, is also made in the Val d'Arly.

Fruit

Cox orange pippin apples; Winter pears, particularly tasty, Savoie peaches, blueberries and raspberries.

Fish

Lake and river fish: trout, arctic char, dace (or pollan), pike, perch.

Crozets, Taillerins and Polenta

Crozets is little square pasta made from tender wheat flour and sometimes blended with buckwheat flour. Taillerins is flat pasta made plain, with chestnuts, mushrooms or blueberries. Polenta is a corn semolina as well as a dish of the same name.

Cold meats

Pormoniers (fresh sausages with herbs and pork giblets), donkey and goats sausages, diots (fresh pork sausages in white wine, onions and spices) and herb grelots (pork sausage with walnuts) are among the local specialties.