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« ... When he was at Les Vigneaux, Saint Vincent Ferrier wanted to climb to Puy, in spite of being warned by locals about a terrifying creature. The Saint ignored their warnings and set off anyway,when he found himself fact to face with a huge animal, an enormous, unkempt dog, menacingly showing its teeth. Vincent went back to Les Vigneaux, asked for a pan and some holy water, then set off again, followed by the curious but scared locals. He met the monster again,and managed to attach the pan in which he had poured three drops of holy water, to its long tail.The animal started to leap about, the pan burst into flames and burned the monster's tail, and the beast fled leaving a trail of flames which Saint Vincent followed to go to Puy ... »
(Extract from a document about Puy Saint Vincent)
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The village was first named Puy Saint Romain, after the Saint Romain chapel in the hamlet of Puy. But from the end of the 14th century, the village has borne the name of Puy Saint Vincent (Podium Sancti Vincenti).
Podium means an inhabited area built on a promontory or high point in relation to the bottom of the Valley.
Sancti-Vincenti refers to Vincent Ferrier (1355-1419) a Dominican missionary who came to the Vallouise Valley to fight the afore-mentioned revolting creature, which was in fact no other than the Waldensian heresy. This monk succeeded by his goodness and tolerance where the clergy troops from Embrun had failed for 2 centuries.
Puy became Puy Saint Vincent in his honour and a chapel was built in honour of the Catholic faith which was decorated by the best Lombardian artists from 1450 to 1470.
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Puy Saint Vincent is made up of three hamlets - Puy, the Alberts and Prés - which are spread over a sunny plateau at an altitude of about 1400m.
Puy Saint Vincent is not located at the bottom of the valley like the other communities, but on the north-facing side of the mountain. ??
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From Puy Saint Vincent you have a superb view of the whole of the Vallouise Valley.
Higher up, on the slopes of the Pendine and Col de la Pousterle , meadows and plateaus dotted with chalets look down upon the countryside.
The Puy Saint Vincent ski resort was built on these pastures in 1968, initially at the hamlet of Prés at 1400M.
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The resort was extended and modernized from 1974 onwards, with the construction of residential buildings and new ski lifts at 1600m , followed by those at 1800m in 2004.
The Puy Saint Vincent ski resort is rightly known as "the protégé of the winds" thanks to the surrounding high summits and is located on the north-facing side, close to numerous glaciers which guarantee natural snow late into the season.
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This north-facing side comes to an end at the Combe de Narreyroux, a valley of mountain pastures with lots of flowers and mighty waterfalls, which is a favourite place for hiking in the summer and for ski touring and off-piste skiing in winter.
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