Two chapels located in the town of La Brigue, in the Roya valley, have been selected to benefit from the heritage lottery for the safeguard of endangered heritage.

After difficult months because of the storm Alex which had caused monstrous floods, the inhabitants are appreciating the good news, as Europe 1 has seen.

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For its fourth edition, the Heritage Mission for the safeguarding of endangered heritage has selected 18 sites that will benefit from the lottery, intended to raise funds to finance the work.

Among these sites, the mission led by host Stéphane Bern identified two chapels in the Alpes-Maritimes which are located in the Roya valley, ravaged by floods last fall.

This good news was very well received by the inhabitants of La Brigue, the municipality of the Alpes-Maritimes where these chapels are located, as Europe 1 noted on the spot.

"Hundreds of thousands of euros" in aid

Because these chapels are the treasures of the village of about 700 souls.

"They are right in the center, the first is oblong, which is quite rare, and the second has a steeple," describes its mayor, Daniel Alberti.

The elected representative is pleased to finally be able to renovate them to allow them to reopen.

He has dreamed of it for years.

The heritage lottery is therefore timely.

Daniel Alberti expects aid "of the order of a few hundred thousand euros".

"It's still not insignificant on a budget established around 1.4 million euros, it changes a lot of things," he says.

After the natural disaster and months of health restrictions, "we are asking for good news", adds the city councilor.

"It is so we are happy."

"It will scratch, it will scratch"

The news seems to have already gone around the valley.

In her tobacco-press office, Laure is delighted to sell the heritage lottery tickets.

"It's going to scratch, it's going to scratch," she laughs.

"It feels good after everything that has happened to us. People, out of solidarity, are going to buy the tickets, so that the buildings are repaired."

For a resident met a little further away, these renovations will also help ensure the sustainability of the village's economic activity.

"If there is nothing left in our villages, more beauty to see, there will be no more tourism this summer," she said.

"Everything is based on it: on the churches, the heritage ... It takes some to make people come back."

These people are the tourists.

Here in the stricken Roya Valley, everyone is hoping they will come back.

They can, for that, count on a landscape always of any beauty.