Collonges-sous-Salève
Collonges-sous-Salève is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is located very close to Geneva, Switzerland. Its population is about 3000. The name of Collonges designates a colony of farmers situated on land granted, along with certain liberties, by the land owner. The town dates from the fourth or fifth century. The modern commune has its roots in the Ancien Régime, arising out of a parish whose existence is recorded from the twelfth century.
The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi and the singer Giuseppina Strepponi were married in secret in the parish church of Collonges-sous-Salève which then lay in the territory of the Kingdom of Piedmont. Collonges-sous-Salève was also the ancestral town of the ancestors of the French composer, Maurice Ravel.
Although the town, and Haute Savoie generally, is traditionally Catholic, Collonges-sous-Salève is the location of Adventist University of France – Collonges and Maurice-Tièche comprehensive school, both owned by the Seventh-day Adventist church.
