An outstanding site full of history: Clinging to the cliff like an eagle's nest, surrounded by ramparts built in the Middle Ages, the village of Roubion defied time. Adret spectacular village, facing south, it is backed by rocky ridges that protect it from cold winds. Wandering the narrow streets that wind between the old houses in mountain architecture, fountains, like that of Sheep (eighteenth century), animate the plot.
Remains of walls and doors of the twelfth century and the ruins of the castle, classified, show the conflicts between Savoy and France. Going up to the ancient walls, which remain two round towers on which two benches are installed, you will discover a magnificent view over the village and the surrounding mountains. Below the village, the small Chapel of St. Sebastian contains preserved wall paintings dating from the sixteenth century. From the village square, a steep trail through the tunnel leading to the hamlet of Vignols, former 'granary' of the village, and the sources of Vionène.
Common Mercantour National Park, located on the Route des Grandes Alpes.
Access: 74 km from Nice in the Tinée Valley: N202, D2205, D30.
Population: In February 2005 census, the town had Roubion just over 100 inhabitants in the year to nearly 350 with second homes.
Name of inhabitants: Roubionnais.
Elevation: Village Roubion 1336 m. The Buisses Station: 1410 m on the slopes, 1920 m above the apple.
Major rivers: the Var, Tinée the Vionène.
Time travel... Roubion is a village perched typical of the hinterland of Nice. In Provence, "Robione" or "Rup" means rock sheer cliff. Roubion was created 800 years before Christ by Celto-Ligurian and became a Roman province until the cruel invasion of the Lombards, and the Saracens (1200). The houses were looted, ransacked and burned during the wars of the League of Augsburg and at the Spanish Succession in 1691 by the Wine Baron. However, strong in character, the Roubionnais rebuilt their village and bought back the common goods that had been stolen. In 1860, they chose to become permanently French and lived in autarky until the construction of the only road linking East to West the Tinée valley to Cians Valley. This then clears the isolation of the hinterland, while causing a massive rural exodus to the cities Roubionnais the coast. The development of tourism and winter sports resorts of Valberg and Launes to Beuil in the 70 led in 1975 to the creation of the station Roubion The Buisses, newest of the Alpes-Maritimes. Today, several monuments still possible to imagine the old life, just like the old ramparts that protected the people against wolves.
Blazon: "Ardeo not Rubesco" I burn without blushing. "Argent on a tower of sand, port and windows Gules, chief trifecta, in pale: the first and third gules slender silver; second: gold star with eight rays of Gules ".