| Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via | |
| Commune Status: | Commune |
| Arrondissement: | Prades |
| Image Coat Of Arms: | Blason ville fr Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via (Pyrénées-Orientales).svg |
| Canton: | Les Pyrénées catalanes |
| Insee: | 66124 |
| Postal Code: | 66120 |
| Mayor: | Alain Luneau[1] |
| Term: | 2020 - 2026 |
| Coordinates: | 42.4983°N 2.0347°W |
| Elevation M: | 1800 |
| Elevation Min M: | 1312 |
| Elevation Max M: | 2212 |
| Area Km2: | 29.60 |
Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via (in French pronounced as /fɔ̃ ʁɔmø ɔdɛjo vja/; Catalan; Valencian: Font-romeu, Odelló i Vià), or simply Odeillo, is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales and Cerdagne near the Spanish border in the south of France.[2] It comprises the villages of Odeillo and Via, as well as Font-Romeu, one of the oldest ski resorts in France and the oldest in the Pyrenees.
Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades. It is bordered by the communes of Angoustrine-Villeneuve-des-Escaldes, Targasonne, Égat, Estavar, Saillagouse, Eyne and Bolquère.
Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via station is served by the Yellow Train line, a railway which runs from Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol.
The names of Odeillo and Via appear in 839 as parrochia Hodellone et parrochia Avizano.[3]
The name Font-Romeu means in Catalan "fountain of the pilgrim".[3]
Odeillo and Via were both mentioned for the first time in 839 among the places paying a fee to La Seu d'Urgell church. Nevertheless, Odeillo was at the time part of the County of Cerdanya, while Via was a property of the Urg family.[3]
On 15 July 1035, Wifred II, Count of Cerdanya, gave Odeillo to the Abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou, where he retired himself a short time before his death. The Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa also owned a few allods in Odeillo, as recognized by a papal bull from Sergius IV in 1011.[3]
Via remained a property of the Urg family until the 13th century. It was then bought by Peter of Fenouillet, viscount of Fenouillet and then viscount of Ille.[3]
A chapel was mentioned for the first time in Font-Romeu in 1525, on the territory of Odeillo. It already hosted a statue of the Virgin Mary from the 13th century, and a hermitage was built from 1693 to receive the pilgrims.[3]
Odeillo and Via both became communes in 1790. The commune of Via was abolished and included into Odeillo on 10 July 1822.[4]
In 1881, a wildfire caused by arson spread throughout 267 hectares of the forest of La Calme in the north of the commune.[5]
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