Things to see and do Saint-Nazaire-Le-Désert

The main agglomeration of the Roanne valley occupies a Site of choice at the crossroads of three valleys. If some likes to see in the appendix «the desert» a reference to the deforested landscape consecutive to centuries of human pressure on the forest, this origin remains dubious. The resumption of the name of a mountain south of the commune seems more likely. The human presence on these lands dates from yesterday: the caves of Reychas and Arnaud-Arnaud, on the communal territory, have delivered vestiges dating from the chasséens - 4 000 years before J.-C. On the medieval site of the commune, on the Butte slope which dominates the village in the east, it was supplanted from the th century by the current location in the valley. Before 1914, the municipality had a thousand inhabitants. Craftsmen, shops were numerous. There were eleven cafes and cattle fairs were known. It was only after the Great War that the specific decline in all mountain communes began. Today, with 168 inhabitants, Saint-Nazaire continues to play courageously the role of small capital that it has always held in a difficult environment that hardly encourages the men to settle. Hybrid and aromatic plants associated with walnut, honey, picodon and sheep farming are in front of the agricultural scene.