Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, visit

All year long

The château with the mirror ponds.

Situated in the Touraine in the Loire Valley, the château d'Azay-le-Rideau was built during a rather creative period of François I's reign.
Built by Gilles Berthelot, a wealthy local financier, the château reflects the fad for Italian Renaissance among the educated elite of the time and is typical of the residential chateaux of the time, combining the elegance of the French-style château with the majestic splendor of an Italian palazzo.
While its vast moat, turrets and rampart walk are typical of medieval architecture, Azay-le-Rideau's symmetrical design is resolutely Italian Renaissance in style.
The monumental staircase - the château's pièce de résistance - leads to the courtyard via the loggias.
In the 19th century, the Marquess of Biencourt carried out extensive renovation work on the interior and exterior: the last original tower was replaced with a new one and the library and main parlor were redecorated in the neo-Renaissance style.
The grounds were also landscaped at this time, and two ornamental ponds were dug in the southern and western parts of the estate in order to reflect the image of the château in their surfaces.