Museums in La Salle
Ethnographic Museum “L’Homme et la Pente”
The Ethnographic Museum L’Homme et la Pente was created as part of the European Interreg II Italy-France project of the same name (“L’Homme et la Pente. Programme for the conservation and enhancement of the rural heritage of the territories of two cross-border municipalities”), thanks to the partnership between La Salle and the Savoy municipality of Planay-en-Vanoise, located in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alps region.
The aim is to redevelop the two territories in terms of tourism, but also to give new value to their historical and cultural heritage.
These two areas share the presence of the “slope” which, by characterising their territory, has conditioned the lives of the people who have lived there over the years: hence the name of the project “l’Homme et la Pente“, or “Man and the Slope“.
The project
The project arose from two ethnographic studies carried out jointly by the two destinations: an investigation into how the mountain territory has conditioned man’s activities is collected in the book “Patrimoni alpini“.
The result of this investigation was the setting up of an ethnographic museum, the establishment of a circuit of trails in each area and a robust communication and marketing campaign (design of a logo, construction of a website, creation of a video).
The museum
The museum has a rich collection of objects related to aspects of mountain life such as work, family rituals, daily habits and religious beliefs. In it you can breathe in the atmosphere of daily life, its hardships and its moments of joy.
A place where you can let yourself be carried away by the many suggestions:
- the changing seasons
- the development of agriculture and the different methods of cultivation
- the development of cattle breeding and transhumance
- the cleaning and maintenance of paths, haymaking, bread and dairy production
- collection, conservation and classification of tools and implements
- the museum en-plein-air, with access to mills, barns, stables, chapels, through a network of pedestrian circuits connected with the museum itself
More information can be found here: Museum l’Homme et la Pente
Opening days and times :
July – Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 3.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
August – Tuesdays (16 and 23), Wednesdays, Fridays (19 and 26), Saturdays and Sundays from 3.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Maison Plassier
On his death in 2012, Carlo Plassier bequeathed his house, with all its furnishings and works of art, to the town of La Salle so that it could be made available to the public.
This house-museum contains around 1250 paintings, in addition to about a hundred works of graphic art, various furnishings (bronzes, ceramics, clocks, etc.) and furniture.
In 2018, the municipality formally acquired the bequest in its will and transformed Maison Plassier into a house museum.
On the first floor, it is possible to visit Plassier’s home, while the ground floor features a biographical profile of the owner and an exhibition of the collection of works by artists from Valle d’Aosta, including Italo Mus.
