Ontdek Azay-le-Rideau

The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau stands on an island in the Indre, south-west of Tours. It was built from 1518 to 1527 for Gilles Berthelot, a financier of Francis I, mixing French building traditions with Italian Renaissance decoration. Reworked in the 19th century by the marquis de Biencourt, it was bought by the State in 1905.

The Château de Villandry, 15 km west of Tours, is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century for Jean Le Breton, a minister of Francis I, around an older keep. From 1906 Joachim Carvallo recreated its gardens on several terraces from Renaissance designs: an ornamental kitchen garden of vegetables in box-edged beds, ornamental flower gardens and a water garden.