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Tende | |
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Coordinates: 44°05′19″N7°35′39″E / 44.0886°N 7.5942°E | |
Country | France |
Region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur |
Department | Alpes-Maritimes |
Arrondissement | Nice |
Canton | Contes |
Intercommunality | CA Riviera Française |
Government | |
• Mayor (2020–2026) | Jean-Pierre Vassallo [1] |
Area 1 | 177.47 km2 (68.52 sq mi) |
Population (2021) [2] | 2,021 |
• Density | 11/km2 (29/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
INSEE/Postal code | 06163 /06430 |
Elevation | 552–2,920 m (1,811–9,580 ft) (avg. 815 m or 2,674 ft) |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. |
Tende (French pronunciation: [tɑ̃d] ; Italian, Occitan and Royasc: Tenda) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.
Tende is located within Mercantour National Park in the French Alps. The mountainous commune is bordered by Italy to the north, with the boundary determined by the watershed line between the two countries. This line of mountain tops contains more than 20 summits exceeding 2,000 meters (6,600 feet).
A large rectangle of land running east–west, Tende is split from north to south by the Roya river valley. The tributary Réfréi river joins the Roya within the limits of Tende.
The Col de Tende (Tende Pass), a strategic pass through the Alps to Piedmont, has been modernized to be a road and railway tunnel.
Climate data for Tende(1981-2010), altitude: 636 m | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 9.0 (48.2) | 10.7 (51.3) | 13.6 (56.5) | 15.4 (59.7) | 20.3 (68.5) | 24.2 (75.6) | 27.0 (80.6) | 27.0 (80.6) | 22.2 (72.0) | 17.9 (64.2) | 12.6 (54.7) | 9.2 (48.6) | 17.4 (63.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.1 (39.4) | 5.3 (41.5) | 7.9 (46.2) | 10.1 (50.2) | 14.5 (58.1) | 18.0 (64.4) | 20.3 (68.5) | 20.3 (68.5) | 16.3 (61.3) | 12.5 (54.5) | 7.8 (46.0) | 4.8 (40.6) | 11.8 (53.3) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −0.7 (30.7) | −0.2 (31.6) | 2.2 (36.0) | 4.8 (40.6) | 8.7 (47.7) | 11.7 (53.1) | 13.7 (56.7) | 13.6 (56.5) | 10.3 (50.5) | 7.2 (45.0) | 3.0 (37.4) | 0.4 (32.7) | 6.2 (43.2) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 83.3 (3.28) | 45.5 (1.79) | 46.0 (1.81) | 98.5 (3.88) | 72.8 (2.87) | 65.6 (2.58) | 47.5 (1.87) | 58.5 (2.30) | 105.3 (4.15) | 144.9 (5.70) | 147.7 (5.81) | 99.2 (3.91) | 1,014.8 (39.95) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 5.5 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 7 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 8.1 | 7.6 | 5.9 | 79.1 |
Source: Infoclimat [3] [4] |
Known to be a populated place in 690, [5] it is unclear when Tende first became an organized settlement. Prehistoric rock engravings have been found in the area, which are now on display in the Musée des Merveilles or in situ.
Tende is a medieval village of tumultuous history, having belonged successively to the Count of Ventimiglia in the tenth century, then the Counts of Provence and the Counts of Lascaris of Ventimiglia before being swapped several times between Italy and France. First to the Savoyard state, then the First French Republic (later the Napoleonic Empire), then restored to the Savoyard Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont (which became in 1861 the Kingdom of Italy).
From 1861 to 1947 Tende was part of Italy, and was damaged during the Italian invasion of France in 1940. Tende was the last commune to join the French Republic in 1947, which was endorsed by a controversial local referendum, when Italy was forced to cede (after defeat in World War II) some alpine areas to France.
The hillside village is overlooked by the spire-like remnants of the main turret of the castle of the Lascaris, which was built in the 14th century as protection from the attacking Count of Provence, Charles d'Anjou. The castle was destroyed in 1692 when King Louis XIV ordered his Marshal, Catinat, to destroy all fortified structures in France that might challenge his rule. The only complete structure that remains is a circular tower, transformed into a clock during the 19th century. [6] The tolling of the clock's bells can be heard day and night throughout Tende.
Tende is located on what was once an important route of the salt trade between Italy and France. During their reign of Tende, the Lascaris would demand a toll of those transporting salt and others passing through the region.
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Source: EHESS [7] and INSEE (1968-2017) [8] |
While the main language of Tende is French, most of Tende's residents also speak Tendasque (which can also refer to the villagers themselves), a variety of the Ligurian language with Provençal influences. The Tendasque dialect has many similarities with the Mentonasque of the coast.
Among the village's youth, Tendasque is less prevalent (about 30%), while many of them can speak Italian.
The village recently began celebrating a series of festivals during the summer, each dedicated to an aspect of local culture. One such festival celebrates the Old Tende (the medieval section), and on the second Sunday of each July, a long-standing festival is held in honor of Saint Eloi, patron saint of the village.
Sugelli, a distinctive pasta with a thumb print indentation is a local specialty.
At the base of the hillside town is a public swimming pool, built around the turn of the millennium.
A via ferrata along the tops of the village's mountains attracts climbers. The trail head can be accessed from near the base of the town clock.
Tende has a railway station on the Nice/Ventimiglia-Breil-sur-Roya-Cuneo line run by the SNCF, with connecting service from Ventimiglia/Nice in the southwest to Turin to the north. Train services are mostly operated by Trenitalia. The Train des Merveilles, makes a three daily runs from Nice to Tende. Taking the 9.08am train from Nice (arriving at 11.33am) and returning on the 2.44pm train will give you three good hours for exploration. The train journey itself gives magnificent views of old french towns in mountain valleys.
Tende is twinned with:
The Maritime Alps are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the Italian regions of Piedmont and Liguria. They are the southernmost part of the Alps.
Alpes-Maritimes is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it encompasses the French Riviera alongside neighbouring Var. Alpes-Maritimes had a population of 1,094,283 in 2019. Its prefecture is Nice, with Grasse as the sole subprefecture.
Col de Tende is a high mountain pass in the Alps, close to the border between France and Italy, although the highest section of the pass is wholly within France.
Mercantour National Park a French national park located in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes departments. Since it was created in 1979, the park has proven popular, with 800,000 visitors annually enjoying the 600 km (372 mi) of marked footpaths and visiting its villages.
L'Escarène is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in France.
The arrondissement of Nice is an arrondissement of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It has 101 communes. Its population is 522,637 (2016), and its area is 3,067.4 km2 (1,184.3 sq mi).
Nice-Ville station, also known as Nice-Thiers station, is the main railway station of Nice, France. It is situated on the Marseille–Ventimiglia railway and constitutes the southwestern terminus of the Nice–Breil-sur-Roya railway. Nice-Ville is served by TER, Intercités and TGV services, as well as the Gare Thiers stop on Line 1 of the Nice tramway.
The County of Nice was a historical region of France located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent to the modern arrondissement of Nice.
Sospel is a commune (municipality) and former schismatic episcopal seat (1381-1418) in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France near the Italian border and not far from Monte Carlo. And, from 1912 to 1932, Sospel even had a tramway system from Menton which had a length of 17,279 meters.
Breil-sur-Roya is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.
Italian irredentism in Nice was the political movement supporting the annexation of the County of Nice to the Kingdom of Italy.
Berre-les-Alpes is a rural commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in France.
Belvédère is a commune in the Vésubie valley north of Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. The village of Belvédère is located at the entrance of the Gordolasque valley on the edge of the Mercantour National Park.
Auvare is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of south-eastern France.
Saorge is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France Association. Highway E74 which runs north from Menton, passes through Saorge on its way to the Col de Tende where it crosses into Italy.
René of Savoy was a French nobleman and soldier. He was count of Villars (1497) and of Tende (1501). Known as "the Great Bastard of Savoy", he was the illegitimate son of Philip II, Duke of Savoy and Libera Portoneri - this made him the originator of the Savoie-Villars branch of the House of Savoy.
Royasc is a dialect bridging the gap between the Ligurian language and the Occitan language. It is spoken in Italy and France.
The France–Italy border is 515 km long. It runs from the Alps in the north, a region in which it passes over Mont Blanc, down to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Three national parks are located along the border: Vanoise National Park and Mercantour National Park on the French side and Gran Paradiso National Park on the Italian side.
The Second Battle of the Alps was a military campaign fought between combined German and Italian Social Republic forces, and the re-established French Republic led by Charles de Gaulle and other Allied forces.
The Mercantour-Argentera massif is a massif in the Maritime Alps located astride the French departments of Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and the Italian region of Piedmont. The name of the massif comes respectively from the summit of Mercantour, a secondary central summit, and from Mount Argentera, the highest point of the massif, entirely in Italy.
44,04°N, 7,59°E