Pontboset, the village of bridges

Where water divides… human skill connects

Pontboset is a village shaped by water. Torrents, tributaries, deep gorges – here, Nature has always tested those who choose to live and move through it.

Yet this very challenge gave rise to one of the area’s most fascinating features: its bridges.

Pontboset is home to many, each with its own story.

From the first medieval wooden bridges – often swept away by floods – the community gradually built more resistant stone structures.

The most iconic are the “humpback” bridges, inspired by the Roman model of Pont-Saint-Martin: the Ronchas bridge, leading to the mule track for Fournier, and the Vaseras bridge, giving access to Creux and Crest.

Just as striking is the Goillet bridge, with its two asymmetrical low arches, connecting the main village of Veulla to the “envers” slope.

Further along the route, you’ll come across the Frassiney bridge – a structure with a long and turbulent history. It was only in 1879, after numerous repairs and destructions, that it was fully rebuilt in stone.

These bridges are more than functional structures: they are physical symbols of resilience, of connection, of the will to overcome the harshness of the land.

Crossing them means stepping into the living history of a community that met challenge with creativity and strength.