Banon

On the Plateau d'Albion in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, surrounded by lavender fields and vast plains of wheat between the ‘Montagne de Lure’ and the Mont Ventoux, the village of Banon. The village is built on a mountain at an altitude of 760 meters and has magnificent view of the Vallée de Coulon.

In the medieval part of Banon you can still see the remains of the ramparts of the old castle. This 15th century 10 meters high town wall had a circumference of 800 meters, with a thickness of one meter and offered in this manner adequate protection against the enemy. You can still enter the historical part of Banon through a gate, topped with a distinctive square tower. This gate, dating from the 14th century, you can only enter by foot through a broad calade (typically Provencal stone rolled street) and is until today still the main entrance of the historic center.

At the highest point of the village, next to the old and recently completely restored Hôtel-Dieu dating from 1850 and in front of the Romanesque style church of Saint-Marc (1652), stood at the site of the mound in the early 12th century the castle that belonged to Simiane who in that time ruled Banon. In the 13th century, the castle was replaced by a more modest castle that was destroyed by fire during the Revolution. The present church was partially rebuilt with the remains of the chapel of the castle.

Banon still managed to preserve its authenticity. Once you enter the old part of Banon through the monumental gate under the arched passages, you go back to the past with the typical ‘ruelles calades’ (Provencal stone streets) surrounded by 16th century houses - some edited with wood elements and other in a medieval stone front -, old gates and passages through which you can have an idea of how the inhabitants of Banon lived centuries ago.

The Provencal village has one of the largest independent bookstores in France: with more than 100.000 books the bookstore ‘Le Bleuet’ attracts every year a large audience that tries to make a choice from the huge collection of books. Besides the beautiful medieval city center, Banon hides another treasure: its famous goat cheese, the Banon. This small round goat cheese, about 100 grams, is made according to ancient traditional recipes in the farms of the Haute Provence. In the region of Banon, there was the tradition to keep the remains of the cheeses, the main source of protein in winter, in chestnut leaves. The Banon still owes its distinctive flavor to this mode of production in which the cheeses are wrapped in chestnut leaves after a period of maturation to give its characteristic aroma.