Château de Chalmazel

In the heart of the 'Montagnes du soir', in the only ski resort of the upper Forez, in a land of fortified castles such as Couzan, Marcilly, Rochefort and Urfé, where the Renaissance sowed the first masterpieces of the new Italian art, the Château de Chalmazel, in the Loire, towers over the Lignon valley.

This is the valley of Honoré d'Urfé's L'Astrée; the Lignon later flows into the still young Loire, after crossing the Way of St James, at the foot of Montverdun and La Bastie.

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