Saint-Chef is a municipality today counting more than 3000 inhabitants, distributed on 2716 hectares, in the northwest of the department of Isère. The restless relief of this vast territory peaks as height as 308 metres.

The village developed around a convent based in the 6-th century which was one of the most powerful of France, before knowing the decline, then its translation in the year 1774.

For the ancient time, Saint-Chef is the Mecca vinifère, as us confirm it medieval papers where one can read : "the côteaux of Trieux and Crucilleux is only cliffs and sun where it(he) is made some wine, many and of the check...". If the surface occupied by the vineyard decreased a lot, it is necessary to note the installation of several wine growers who want to remain by immortalizing an ancestral activity. So it is not a fate so survives it the employers' holiday of the wine growers, dedicated, it is unusual, to St Valentine's Day.

Numerous tourists come to appreciate the vestiges of the abbey church, classified ancient memorial, which conceals exceptional frescoes of the 12-th century.

By crossing(going through) the urban circuit marked out by explanatory steles, one can discover number of houses or castles of the means - age, witnesses of the rich local history.

Finally paths marked out by drive(ride) allow to appreciate the area and the variety of the territory of the municipality.

Please, discover Saint-Chef .

Credit text and photos : André Bellon