Château de Montfort

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Montfort, also known as “Le Gaudelet”, stands in La Colle-sur-Loup, in the Alpes-Maritimes. The site was occupied from the 13th century by a feudal fortress; in 1230 it belonged to Romée de Villeneuve, seneschal of Provence. In 1501 the estate was acquired by Jean-Antoine II de Lascaris, Count of Tende, and then, at the beginning of the 16th century, given as a dowry to Anne Lascaris on her marriage to René de Savoie, known as the Great Bastard of Savoy. It was at this time that the château was rebuilt in the Renaissance style that characterizes the building today; it was listed as a historic monument by decree of 26 December 1969. In 1538 Francis I stayed there during the negotiations for the Peace of Nice. It subsequently passed through several private hands, belonging notably to Gustave Ecrepont, before being acquired in 1995 by the watchmaker Severin Wunderman, owner of the Corum company, who installed a collection of works by Jean Cocteau there, part of which has since been bequeathed to the Musée Jean-Cocteau in Menton. The privately owned château retains a Renaissance façade, a great hall with a beamed ceiling adorned with a fireplace bearing the arms of the Great Bastard of Savoy, a spiral staircase housed in a turret, and the remains of a chapel.