Satigny

History

In its origins, Satigny fell under the jurisdiction of Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens, a dependency of the abbot of Ainay in Lyon, which grew rapidly with lands granted to it mainly by the lords of Gex. When the territory of the municipality formed part of the Peney castellany, the town had a priory devoted to St Peter. A chart from 912, the oldest surviving authentic document of Geneva's history, notifies the donation by Eldegarde, probably a countess, of part of the assets inherited from her husband to the monastery of St Peter. However, she reserved for herself the usufruct of the lands located in Satigny, Choully, Peissy, Challex, Crest, Logras, and Feigères, and she asked the bishop of Geneva to ensure that her donation was well executed. In 1134 the bishop denounced the violation of the canonical rules and obtained by arbitrage from the archbishop of Vienna the priory of Satigny. The main town would develop around the convent and, in 1305, its inhabitants and those of the neighbouring hamlets created a community. The castle of Peney-Dessus, flanked by a fortified village, was the headquarters of the Peney castellany, also called land of Mortier. In 1282, a monk of Satigny, in love with Léonette de Joinville, slipped disguised as a woman into the apartment of the wife of the lord of Gex. When she discovered him, she made him undress and be beaten by her people. Simon de Joinville turned this into a pretext to claim the rights of the Peney castellany, its castle, Saint-Gervais, and the bridge over the Rhône river. The bishop responded by reminding to Simon that he had forgot to pay his tribute and he requested a compensation. In the face of the growing power of the bishop, the lord of Gex renounced to his claims and he submitted to the demands of the bishop. Built,…

Geography

According to the Swiss federal statistics office, Satigny measures 18,92 km2, which makes it the largest municipality of the canton of Geneva by geographical size. Due to its considerable geographical size, the municipality includes many subdivisions: the neighbourhoods of Satigny-Dessous, Satigny-Dessus, as well as the hamlets of Bourdigny, Peney (Dessous and Dessus), Choully, Montfleury, and Peissy. It also includes the large industrial areas of ZIMEYSA and Bois-de-Bay. It forms part of the Mandement (an old term for castellany, referring to the castellany of Peney), and it borders the Swiss municipalities of Meyrin and Vernier to the East; Bernex, and Aire-la-Ville, to its south, separated from Satigny by the Rhône river; Russin, and Dardagny to the west. France is located to the north-west of the municipality, separated from Satigny by the Allondon river and the stream of the Nant de l'Ecra. The municipality is bordered by the CERN to its north-east, which together with the ZIMEYSA industrial area at the east of the municipality marks the transition from countryside to the urban landscape formed by Meyrin and Vernier which surround the city of Geneva. The Jura mountains define the outline of the landscape in the background. The Salève, the Lake Geneva, as well as the French Alps are also visible in the distance to the east and south-east of the town. Satigny, like other towns in the periphery of Geneva, plays as role as a "green belt" and incarnates the bucolic image of vineyard-dominated countryside-landscape for the local urban inhabitants, mixing large wooded areas, hilly landscapes, and vineyards. Indeed, with 460 hectares of vineyards, Satigny concentrates one-third of the 1,410 hectares of vineyards in the canton of Geneva, which makes it not only…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,290
• Yellow-legged hornet

  Vespa velutina Lepeletier, 1836 · Insecta
  5,951
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,252
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,214
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,194
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,945
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  4,835
• European hare

  Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 · Mammalia
  4,650

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2026-01-12
  4 km SSW of Les Houches, France
• M 3.3 — 2025-05-06
  8 km W of Chapareillan, France
• M 3.3 — 2022-09-25
  7 km ESE of Ar?ches-la-Frasse, France
• M 4.5 — 2022-03-12
  3 km S of Faverges, France
• M 3.4 — 2020-06-23
  11 km ESE of Samoëns, France
• M 3.2 — 2017-11-17
  10 km NNE of Saint-Rémy-de-Maurienne, France