Savoie is the department of the Alps and of the House of Savoy, that Piedmontese dynasty which reigned for nine centuries over a territory stretching from Nice to Geneva before reunifying Italy under its rule. Its annexation to France in 1860, following a plebiscite, marked the last major expansion of the national territory, and Savoie still bears the imprint of this unique Franco-Italian history in its heritage.
Chambéry, the former capital of the Duchy of Savoy, preserves some of the most iconic monuments of this history: the Castle of the Dukes of Savoy with its Gothic Sainte-Chapelle, the Savoy Museum and the Fountain of the Elephants, nicknamed ‘the four bare-arses’ by the people of Chambéry. Miolans, a medieval fortress perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Combe de Savoie, served as the state prison for the Dukes of Savoy. Charbonnières, Hautecombe on the shores of Lake Bourget…
The winter sports resorts — Courchevel, Méribel, Les Arcs — and the spa towns — Aix-les-Bains, Brides-les-Bains — have transformed Savoie into a leading tourist destination, but the department’s castles and abbeys remain one of the least known yet most charming aspects of this mountainous region.