Chateau de Breze

Located a short distance from Saumur, the Château de Brézé offers a monumental experience unlike any other in the world: that of a "castle beneath a castle." While its exterior presents the elegance of a Renaissance residence remodeled in the 19th century in a flamboyant Neo-Gothic style, its true secret lies beneath its foundations. There, one discovers the largest troglodytic seigneurial complex in Europe, a labyrinth carved into the tufa rock that served as an impregnable refuge and a self-sufficient center of life during times of conflict. Descending into the dry moats, the deepest in France at 18 meters high, one enters a fascinating parallel world. This underground network, stretching over 4 kilometers, houses stables, kitchens, a bakery, and immense medieval wine presses, testifying to the ingenuity of the builders in transforming the rock into an invisible fortress. It is a striking journey through time where one wanders between the bright light of the royal facades and the mysterious shadow of the galleries dug more than a thousand years ago.