Guided tour of the Ferme de Villarivon restoration project (IMH):
Discover the restoration project of the farm and its adjoining chapel (roofs and facades), which began in spring 2023. During the 2026 Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, visitors will be able to appreciate the quality of the roof structure repairs (farmhouse and chapel), as well as the restoration of the trompe-l'oeil painted decoration of the main facades. They will also have the opportunity to discover the traditional technique of laying slate shingles, as the roofing work (which will continue throughout 2027).
The tours (coordinated by the project owner and the project manager) will familiarize the public with the issues involved in the rehabilitation of old buildings with significant heritage significance: how far and to what extent should they be involved? Should we limit ourselves to preserving what already exists, or is it legitimate to reconstruct "identically" deteriorated or missing elements (for example, in the case of the Villarivon Farm, large sections of its facade decoration)? Should we limit ourselves to strictly respecting the use of old materials, or can the use of current materials and technologies be accepted, or even considered desirable? This will provide a concrete approach to the many questions inherent in any restoration of built heritage, whether or not it is protected as a Historic Monument.
Access (follow the signs):
As parking is extremely difficult in all seasons in the old village of Villarivon, visitors are urged to park their vehicles in the parking lot located upstream from the village or in the school bus parking and maneuvering area located downstream from the hamlet along the Route de Bellentre, at the sign indicating the entrance to the village, before walking into the village.
Description of the building:
A visit to the Villarivon farm, once used for agricultural activities, is of dual historical and heritage interest. In its composite design, an agro-pastoral building cleverly disguised as a mansion, the building primarily illustrates the tremendous economic and social success of a family of "mountain entrepreneurs" from the 17th to the 19th centuries, within the institutional framework of the former States of Savoy, suddenly dissolved in 1860-1861 by the corrosive effects of the Risorgimento and Italian Unification.
Architecturally, and despite the final remodeling of its openly Piedmontese-inspired exterior decor in 1880, the farmhouse retains, in its logic as a building with a hybrid vocation, both agro-pastoral and "residential," all the characteristic functions of a "cow factory" inseparable, in the high valleys of the northern Alps, from the booming Gruyère cheese economy initiated at the beginning of the Modern Era. For sheltered, if not camouflaged, behind its imposing façade, punctuated on three levels, like the stage wall of an ancient theater, by a clever alignment of real or figurative openings, haylofts, attics, stables, and a manure pit effectively provide all the necessary functions for the wintering of an abundant livestock population consisting of several dozen cattle, goats, and sheep.
Beyond mere artifice, however, while servants and other farmhands indeed coexist with the animals here too, in the customary manner of most Haute-Tarentaise villagers, the owners enjoy their success as successful peasants at both ends of this urban screen, complete with its private chapel, in the comfort of two dwellings ostentatiously furnished according to contemporary bourgeois tastes.
