Photo : Morburre / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Mirmande
As you approach the town, your gaze stops on the imposing ramparts built in the fifth century. Mirmande suffered pillage and fires during the wars of religion then prospered in the seventeenth century with the development of hemp and silk cloth manufacture. The advent of modern techniques led to the abandonment of craft industries and the village declined gently until 1930. It was then that the painter André Lhote discovered it and fell in love with it. He had the church listed as a historic monument and the village as a "picturesque site".
Today, the admirably renovated houses offer fine stone façades, old doors, Renaissance windows. You walk along the ramparts and stone-paved lanes, you glimpse little gardens planted with irises and aromatic plants. Gaps between houses reveal the magnificent landscape. Finally, at the very top of the village, the Romanesque church and its little cemetery leave an impression of peace and serenity.
