©DAVID MASSON
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The incredible Bâtie d'Urfé
Claude d'Urfé reaches his zenith in the 16th century
The family reached its zenith in the 16th century. They needed a more comfortable property, in the spirit of the Renaissance coming from Italy. Claude d’Urfé, close to François I and Henri II, transformed the Bâtie d’Urfé in the Forez plain. A double gallery opens onto the main courtyard guarded by a sphinx. Italian artists decorated the chapel. Inside, Claude arranged an extravagant grotto of Rocailles decorated with mythological characters, plated with shells and pebbles. The garden is covered with beds of yew and boxwood. A fountain under a rotunda adds to the enchantment of this site, now managed by the department.
