Champagny-en-Vanoise
Champagny-en-Vanoise is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.
It is also known for the skiing and snow-boarding slopes.
History
The earliest person known to have inhabited the region of Champagny-en-Vanoise was in 2500 B.C. being uncovered in the Bozel Valley.In antiquity the Celtic Ceutron tribe occupied the valley until the Romans annexed it. During the Middle Ages Champagny-en-Vanoise lay within the County of Savoy and was part of the Tarentaise ecclesiastical territory. Local tradition even holds that Pope Innocent V was born in the hamlet of Friburge. However, this is contested by many historians
Originally called 'Champagny'
The present Church of Saint-Sigismond dates from a Baroque rebuilding in 1683. With this containing an elaborately carved altarpiece and “poutre de gloire” that are listed as historical monuments. Several small chapels also appear in local records from the 16th–17th centuries
Over the early modern era Champagny-en-Vanoise remained a small agrarian community; its population peaked around 823 in 1848, before declining as industrialization elsewhere drew away the youth.
Throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th, Champagny-en-Vanoise's economy was dominated by subsistence farming and alpine pasturing. Farmers grazed cows and sheep on high summer pastures and made local cheeses
A few villagers found work in nearby industries: for example, the Villard-du-Planay was a textile factory resorting to seasonal Alpine labor.
The opening of nearby spa resorts brought occasional tourism traffic through Champagny.
Champagny was annexed by France, taken from the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, becoming a commune of Savoie département.
In the 1950s–60s Champagny started building Ski resorts as to boost tourism in the area. In 1959 Champagny built its first ski lifts and opened a holiday camp A major turning point came in 1965, when Mayor Michel Renaud held a referendum on joining the new La Plagne ski area. The vote passed, and that year lifts began construction on an experimental link: a chairlift to the high-altitude site of La Rossa and two surface tows. In 1971 the definitive link to La Plagne opened: a faster chairlift connecting Champagny to the Nancroix Valley of La Plagne
In 1970 the region's name was changed to 'Champagny-en-Vanoise'