René Dinkel · CC BY-SA 3.0

Haut Verdon alpin

Villars-Colmars

Villars-Colmars covers a little over 40 km² in the Haut Verdon valley, through which the river runs. The village stands at around 1,200 m and the land rises to about 2,650 m at the summit of the Caduc, in a landscape of larch forests and high ridges, at the gateway to the Mercantour National Park. Long a dependency of Colmars, it was separated from it only in 1792.

250 pop. (2022) 1200 m elevation 04370 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Demonym: Villarois

Weather in Villars-Colmars

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Live forecast — source Open-Meteo. Coordinates 44.195, 6.571.

Overview

A small village of the Haut Verdon at the gateway to the Mercantour, detached from Colmars at the Revolution.

Where to stay in Villars-Colmars

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Services & shops in Villars-Colmars

Fuel: 1 petrol station in the commune. See live prices →

What to see, what to do

Church of Saint-Sévère
The parish church, Romanesque in origin, also known as the church of the Transfiguration, enlarged in 1833.
Church of Saint-Raphaël (Chasse)
The church of the hamlet of Chasse, in the small valley of the same name.
Chapel of Saint-Blaise
Also known as the chapel of the Visitation, it preserves a 17th-century gilded wooden altarpiece.
Sundial of 1699
A sundial borne on the maison communale (the village hall), registered on the supplementary inventory of historic monuments.
Oratories
Nine oratories are dotted across the commune.
Larch forests
More than 550 hectares of woodland and forest, with three natural areas of ecological interest (ZNIEFF), at the gateway to the Mercantour.

History of Villars-Colmars

The name Villars-Colmars comes from the plural of the Occitan 'vilar', meaning a village or a hamlet. Under the Ancien Régime the place was a dependency of Colmars. In 1690, during the War of the League of Augsburg, a detachment of the Piedmontese army laid siege to Colmars and burnt down Villars. The two communities separated in May 1792, against a background of conflict over wheat, giving rise to the autonomous commune of Villars-Colmars. Like its neighbours in the valley, the village had a modest textile industry in the 19th century — four factories employing about 67 workers in 1813, then a mill opened by Honoré Roux in 1832 — an activity that had died out before 1900. The output of cordeillats, a coarse woollen cloth, was sold at the September fair.

Getting to Villars-Colmars

  • Nearest train station: Gare de Thorame-Haute (train des Pignes, Chemins de fer de Provence)

Addresses in Villars-Colmars

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Nearby Villars-Colmars

Other communes in the Haut Verdon alpin area