Bourg Saint Maurice - Les Arcs - Long before the rise of the ski resorts and winter sports, the Bourg Saint Maurice valley had a completely different economy: agriculture and itinerant trade. "We often forget that our region was first and foremost a place of passage, strategic since Antiquity", recalls Jean-Marie Chevronnet, guide and lecturer for Les Arcs Bourg Saint Maurice Tourism. "A Roman road already linked Vienna to the Italian Piedmont.
Farming, centred on the Tarine cow, gives rise to a flagship product: Beaufort. This hard cheeseAt the time, this cheese, now a PDO, was produced in huge wheels weighing 80-90 kg.
"You needed almost 900 litres of milk to produce just one. It was a collective production: everyone brought their milk to the fruitières, the forerunners of our cooperatives". explains the guide.
A cheese as a bargaining chip
This Beaufort was not necessarily consumed on site. "It was a currency of exchange. The peddlers would load up the mules and set off to sell the wheels in Lyon, Paris and as far afield as Italy. In return, they brought back money and goods they couldn't find in the valley.
This collective spirit went far beyond milk production. Part of the income from sales went into a common fund. "It was used to help a family after a fire, illness or crop failure. It was a real economy of solidarity, born of the constraints of the mountains". emphasises Jean-Marie Chevronnet.
With the arrival of the train in 1913, the agricultural economy declined in favour of tourism. But Beaufort didn't disappear: it became a symbol. Even today, it gives rhythm to the summer mountain pastures and inspires unbroken local pride. "It's often said that Beaufort is the gold of our mountains. And, in a way, it always has been". concludes the guide.
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