Saulzet-le-Froid owes its name to the Occitan "Sause" which means willow, certainly due to the presence of many trees of this species present in the various wetlands of the commune.
The village of Saulzet-le-Froid
Located 26 km from Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Nature Park the town has 272 inhabitants. The town is located on a plateau at an altitude of 1000 m between the chain of Puys to the north and the Monts Dore South. The Veyre, arising from the confluence of two rivers which are the Labadeau and the Narse, crosses the town and continues its journey towards Lake Aydat. Several hamlets are added to the village of Saulzet: Espinasse, la Martre, Pessade, Souverand, and Zanières. In the past, Saulzet was crossed by the Roman road probably linking Clermont-Ferrand to Mont-Dore and Besse (the intersection being located around Mareuge (municipality of Vernet-Sainte-Marguerite). Traces of this road are still visible in the meadows, adjoining the hamlet of Zanières, where moreover are the ruins of an old inn called "La Baraque". Most of the activity is agricultural: production of milk and manufacture of Saint-Nectaire, AOP cheese Several associations are in charge of the festive animations of the commune.Tourist region, the territory is crossed by many hiking trails, among which the famous GR4 linking Royan (Charente-Maritime) to Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes), from the Atlantic in Provence.
The town is part of the parish of Saint-Ephrem-de-la-Serre. The church contains a black Madonna in majesty dating from the middle of the Middle Ages, which, according to legend, would have been discovered by an owner of the commune while plowing his field. It is a strange statue and this description of the historian Jean Hani about the Black Virgins suits him perfectly: "The mother is rigid, severe, her gaze strange: she does not look at us, her gaze is lost, it crosses the invisible or, rather, it is the gaze of the invisible which, without looking at us, crosses us”.
Celebrity : Jean-Marie Villot is a personality linked to the town he was cardinal and secretary of state of the Vatican and his father Joseph Villot was mayor of Saulzet-le-Froid from 1906 to 1920.
In 1955, Gilles Grangier shot several scenes from the film Gas-oil on the RD 5 road, with Jean Gabin and Jeanne Moreau (during the filming, the team was having lunch at the roadhouse in Zanières)
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