Saumane-de-Vaucluse

Perched on its rock at the entrance to the Monts de Vaucluse, Saumane-de-Vaucluse dominates the Pays des Sorgues. This charming village, with its small Romanesque church, cobbled streets and dry stone houses, combines picturesqueness and authenticity. Its Latin name, spelled interchangeably in the 11th century ""Somanna"" or ""Saumanna"", evokes the summit (som) or the donkey (sauma).

Saumane, back to the origins of the perched village
At the end of prehistory, man already occupied the rock shelters of the Chinchon valley. Some vestiges scattered on the territory attest to a Roman occupation. The feudal era saw the seigniory pass from the Count of Toulouse to the papacy, then falling to the Sade family who would keep it for more than 400 years.

Saumane, located in the Comtat Venaissin, was first under the jurisdiction of the Counts of Toulouse until the 13th century, then followed the fate of the papal enclave until the French revolution. Saumane de Vaucluse is a hilltop village overlooking the Sorgue valley on the edge of the Vaucluse plateau.



From the 12th century on the slopes of the two valleys, cultivation terraces were laid out in dry stone (without mortar) and covered with olive trees. We discover "bories", small huts for agricultural shelters, or large ones for sheepfolds. Erosion has dug "balms" in the cliffs, caves that men have inhabited since the Neolithic era, and later by creating troglodyte dwellings there.

You will be able to enjoy an unobstructed view of the entire plain planted with olive trees and Mediterranean species, take paths bordered by kilometers of dry stone walls, cross many "combes" or often steep valleys in an arid landscape.

Highest point of this small town "le mourre de la belle étoile", ancestral land of the culture of truffle oaks and olive trees.

Not to be missed, the washhouses, the fountain, the alleys, the Château de Saumane, the dry stone walls, the church,...