Photo : Carsten Steger / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Villages · Aveyron
Villefranche-de-Rouergue
Founded in 1252 by the Count of Toulouse, Alphonse de Poitiers, Villefranche-de-Rouergue, in the Aveyron, is one of the best-preserved bastides of the Rouergue. Its grid plan, organised around a huge central square lined with arcades and dominated by the Flamboyant porch tower of the Church of Notre-Dame, has remained almost intact since the Middle Ages.
With the 'Ville d'Art et d'Histoire' and 'Grand Site d'Occitanie' labels, the bastide also keeps a remarkably preserved Gothic charterhouse. The Thursday market, which has enlivened the main square for centuries, is one of the busiest in the Aveyron.
