Our story

A human adventure in the mountains

In 1903, Nicolas Magnin, a baker, and his wife Cécile Allysand-Ferrier, living in Poingt-Ravier, founded a Bakery and its annex, a "Café – Auberge Pension", with three rooms, in a farm belonging to the family, in the center of the village of "Place", opposite the main entrance to the church.

This business was operated by Nicolas, for the bakery and the café, and by Céline for the inn, until 1911, the date of Nicolas' death. From then on, the operation of the bakery by the family was no longer possible.

A young couple from Valloirins, Vincent Falcoz, from Verneys and his wife Philomène Rol, from La Rivine, originally from Tiers-Dessus, ensured the continuity of the bakery until their retirement.

The "café - wine merchant - pension" is run by Adrien Cyrille, the son of Nicolas and Céline, and his wife Marie-Elise Michel. This place is used by the Valloirins to stock up on drinks when passing through Place.

The era of the coffee shop

In 1937, the rural inn was transformed into a "café-restaurant", with four rooms, to accommodate the first tourists who came at the weekend to enjoy the joys of sealskinning, because at that time, the only existing ski lift in Valloire was the Épinette ski lift, built by Gabriel Juillard above the village of Choseaux-Ville.

In 1945, Adrien was struck down by illness and died the following year. His wife, Marie-Elise, continued the business, helped by a neighbor, César Grange, while waiting for one of the children to take over, once his studies were finished.

In 1953, Pierre Cyrille, the eldest of the children, more commonly known as Pierrot du Centre, assisted by his mother and his wife Simone, set to work, in the difficult context of the development of the resort.

After the fire

In 1957, a terrible fire completely destroyed the inn.

This serious incident allowed to rebuild a real establishment with a capacity of 37 rooms. The hotel and the bakery were rebuilt according to the architect's plans, in a style popular in the 60s. A flat roof replaced the gable roof of the old farmhouse, (as you can still see it today, only the initial colors have been replaced by a wood-tone stain).

Until Pierrot's retirement

In this development, the bakery initially located near the hotel "la Valloirette", today the residence "le Chalet", was moved to the "Touring" side.

It operated until 1965, the date of Vincent Falcoz's death, before giving way to the expansion of the bar, replacing the shop, and the expansion of the kitchen, replacing the bread oven.

Pierrot managed the establishment until his retirement in 1987. During this period, he also assumed the duties of deputy in the municipalities of Emile Grange and Cyrille Rol who built the infrastructure necessary for the rapidly developing resort.

New impetus for a historic hotel

His daughter Muriel and his son-in-law Raoul Serafini took over one of the village's oldest hotels, breathing new life into it. They improved the quality of accommodation by reducing the number of rooms from 37 to 23, all equipped with bathrooms and modern amenities.

Raoul, for his part, developed the Bar-Pub. Always considered a "post-church" bar, he made it a must-visit. "Le Centre" for some, "Chez Raoul" for many.

Le Centre has become a popular place to meet up with friends and with family, summer and winter.

Today

Today, Emilie and Anthony Serafini, Muriel and Raoul's children, and Anthony's partner, Axelle, are gradually taking over the business.

Equipped with overflowing motivation to continue to run Le Centre, their hotel in Valloire, as it should be, and thus continue this wonderful story.