Le patrimoine de La Grave et Villar d'Arène

Le Four banal de Villar d'Arène

Villar d´Arène has preserved an ancestral tradition of 'Po Bulli' (in patois) by completely renovating its oven and perpetuating the traditions each year.

'The tradition of boiled bread continues and it is always a very strong moment in the life of faranchins. For a very long time, the manufacture of this bread was vital for the survival of the village (the oldest writings that we have found in 1450). At the time, wood was so scarce that the inhabitants had to heat the oven partly with manure. The 'po bulli' crossed the centuries until the beginning of the 1970s then, because it was no longer vital, the oven, rather dilapidated and which became difficult to heat, was no longer used for ten years.
Commented tours are organized by the association of the Four to transmit a testimony of this former life. '

Overtures :

All year round, daily.

Pétrins du fou banal de Villar d'Arène - La Grave - © ©AlainROBERT

Centre du village
Villar d'Arène
05480 Villar-d'Arêne

Phone : 04 76 79 90 05

Association - Animation et la rénovation du four de Villar d'Arène

Villar-d'Arêne

04 76 79 16 57

Association - Animation et la rénovation du four de Villar d'Arène

'Lo Po Bulli'
Villar d'Arene has preserved a very old tradition of 'Pain Boulli' (Boiled Bred) made of rye flour and water.

Currently, people share this moment of respect for tradition and conviviality during its manufacture, the third weekend of November (even TV journalist came to make a documentary-film about this tradition).Guided tours are organized by the Association of the Villar d'Arène's old Community Oven,to transmit a testimony to this life of the past. A film 'Alpine Village' made in 1958 is also presented durind the visit.(Marcel Maget, an anthropologist wrote a thesis about the 'Po Boulli').