In 1627 Charles Emmanuel I exempted the people of Saint-Rhémy from military service, but in exchange the soldats de la neige were born: a small army commanded by the mayor, who set the rotas and kept a livre de service, charged with keeping the pass road open and rescuing anyone caught by an avalanche or worn out by the cold.
It was no improvised trade: from the eleventh century the counts of Savoy had granted the village the exclusive right to escort travellers and goods from Aosta to the pass, and the marronniers acted as guides and porters. The village, the last before the Swiss border at 1,632 metres, is the forty-eighth stage of the route Sigeric of Canterbury walked around 990: he called it Sce Remei. Today it has 367 residents.
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📅 Every year, on 6 November
Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses celebrates Saint Leonard of Noblac on 6 November; the 19th-century church dedicated to him, in the hamlet of Saint-Léonard, stands beside the 14th-15th century castle of Bosses.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses, but an easy day trip away.
