HISTORY

Pastoral activity has been documented as far back as the III and II millennia B.C. at Lago del Vei del Buc where there are graffiti similar to those found in the Valle des Merveilles in France.

In 1153 Pope Eugenio III confirmed the ownership of the Valle Gesso by the Abbey of S. Dalmazzo di Pedona now called Borgo San Dalmazzo a town located 15 kilometers from Entracque close to Cuneo, at the bottom of the valley.

The oldest road on record crosses the Colle delle Finestre, a mountain pass above San Giacomo which ends in France and is mentioned in an imperial document dating from 1041.

In 1579 the House of Savoia acquired the Tenda County at that time the population of Entracque stood at 1800 inhabitants.

Around this time some 10,000 sheep grazed in the mountains above Entracque between the months of May to September.

Before going up the mountains the sheep were sheared and during the summer wool blankets were produced locally which were then sold at the S. Michele fair in September.

In 1855 Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoia, a keen chamoix hunter visited Entracque and fell in love with our valley.

In 1857 he was gifted exclusive hunting and fishing rights by the Town Council of Entracque. 

In exchange for this gift, the crown made yearly donations to the poor and contributed to the construction and maintenance of roads and paths in the mountains which gave employment to the locals. The Prince also created the Reserve Ranger Service which also employed local men, in some cases poachers turned Game Keepers! 

The main events after the Second World War have been the building of the hydroelectrical power plant which started operation in 1982 and the creation of the Parco Naturale delle Alpi Marittime by the Regional Government in 1980.

One unique aspect of Entracque is its language, ‘Entracquese’. It is a living language spoken daily alongside Italian. The root of the language lies within the Occitan language branch.