Les Combes d’Introd

The village of Les Combes overlooks the town of Arvier, but it is part of Introd. It was established on a gentle sloping clearing, dedicated to agropastoralism, wheat and straw.

The traditional architecture of Les Combes mainly uses stone, and it is made up of large buildings whose evolution unfolds from the Early Middle Ages to the 19th century. Robust stone buildings from the 15th century are preserved in the village centre, with a wooden barn alongside it here and there.

Some rural buildings exhibit drainpipes supported by circular stone columns. These columns represent power and bear witness to the fact that these houses with their rural appearance were inhabited by a judge, a castellan and notary. They were built by expert building masters mainly from the Lys Valley, Gaby and Issime, the home towns of seasonal emigrants, skilled in working with stone, from the XVI to the XIX century.
This architectural element is related to the prestige of the noble estate of Introd Castle, the Ola, whose imposing appearance influenced building masters who raised rural buildings in nearby towns, in the Rhêmes valley and, occasionally, important houses throughout the Aosta Valley and the Savoiard Tarantaise.

Not far from Les Combes, in the village of Villes-dessus in Introd, the maison Bruil is worth a visit. It is an amazing building that belonged to the Buillet and Bruil families between the XVII and XX centuries and was adapted to later canons in order to obtain a large multi-purpose home, with a covered internal courtyard, that runs alongside the facade with three circular columns from 1680 and now incorporated within the structure dating from 1856. This house is home to an exhibition on mountain food.