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History and gardens of Villandry Castle
Villandry: how Dr Joachim Carvallo revived the Loire’s Renaissance gardens
Built around 1536 by Jean Le Breton, François I’s finance minister, Villandry Castle owes its worldwide fame to its terraced gardens, entirely recreated from 1906 by Dr Joachim Carvallo.
Editorial journal · Carte des Châteaux ·
The last of the grand Renaissance châteaux built along the banks of the Loire, Villandry is not renowned for its walls but for its gardens: six terraced green rooms, including the famous decorative kitchen garden divided into nine squares. A setting that is far from original, entirely reinvented in the early 20th century.
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Jean Le Breton, a minister inspired by Italy
In 1532, Jean Le Breton, François I’s Finance Minister, took possession of the Villandry lands. He ordered the demolition of the old medieval fortress, except for its keep, which he preserved and incorporated into the new building. Having served as ambassador in Rome and studied Italian garden art, Le Breton had already supervised the construction of Chambord for the Crown. He applied this experience to his own estate, completed around 1536, which became the last of the grand Renaissance châteaux built along the banks of the Loire.
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From the French formal garden to the English landscape park
Jean Le Breton’s descendants retained Villandry until 1754, when the estate passed to the Marquis de Castellane. He modernised the château in the neoclassical style fashionable in the 18th century, installing wood panelling. In the 19th century, the original Renaissance garden was destroyed to make way for an English-style park, in keeping with the romantic tastes of the era: Villandry thus lost the appearance that had made it famous.
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1906: Dr Joachim Carvallo purchases an abandoned estate
In 1906, the estate—threatened with demolition—was bought by Dr Joachim Carvallo, a physician born in Spain, and his American wife Ann Coleman. Carvallo then devoted himself to meticulously recreating the Renaissance gardens, using old engravings and writings by the architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. A hundred masons were mobilised to restore the façades to their original elegance. Today, the estate spans over six hectares across four terraced levels, including the celebrated decorative kitchen garden of nine squares, combining vegetables and flowers, replanted twice a year.
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A listed estate still passed down through the family
The entire château and its gardens were listed as historic monuments on 12 April 1927, before being definitively classified on 4 September 1934. The estate is also part of the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, and has been open to the public since 1920. The heirs of Dr Joachim Carvallo, now represented by his great-grandson Henri Carvallo, continue to maintain and bring the estate to life, with the gardens cultivated using organic methods.