Portalet Street

This curved street, with the eponymous square and the "Mules" square, formerly "Merlenô," leads to Rue Longue in the village of Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée. In the Saint-Étienne language, "lou pourtale(t)" means "gate," with the final "t" not pronounced. This square, formerly "Gajola," was the heart of the village. Mules were tied there when they came for the fair, and people ate in the nearby restaurants. This west-east facing street is dark and narrows in the middle.

You can see the facade of Maison Fabri at number 20. This former stately home boasts exceptional decor for a civil building. Entirely executed in monochrome ranging from gray to black, it is composed of separate panels framed by flat fillets, standing out against a regular pattern simulating stone courses. In the center of the facade, there must have been a Crucifixion; On the left, Saint Sebastian, clutching a bundle of arrows in his right hand, holds in his left a crest with the Fabri family coat of arms, which could be the same as the one on the beautiful carved door leading to the dwellings. At number 16, on the facade, a painting depicting a frame with the silhouette of Saint Michael appears, with the date 1720 and the inscription "...DEMICHAEL" on the left. At the bottom, a restored walnut door. At number 14, traces of a shop dating from the Middle Ages can be seen. The large stone that served as a sales counter can be seen, and inside, the hooks remain, recalling the purpose of this ground floor, which was a butcher's shop.

Architecturally, the houses are on five levels, with the "garret" under the roof, a sort of open attic used to store animal fodder in winter and as a clothes dryer. These garrets had wooden balconies that can still be seen today.

In the past, there were trades that are now almost obsolete: tinsmith, shoemaker, upholsterer who remade wool mattresses, and even a watchmaker who repaired clocks, alarm clocks, and watches and who occasionally pierced women's ears.

Two fountains mark the route, recalling the time when there was no running water in homes.