Sauve

Surrounded by wooded hills, orchards and vineyards, Sauve is a small town in the Gard situated between Quissac and Sommières, 35 kilometres from Nîmes and on the edge of the Cévennes.

Built at the foot of the Mer des Rochers, a rock formation of ruiniform tower karst, Sauve sits majestically on the banks of the Vidourle river that its medieval arched bridge crosses.

Founded in the 11th century, the old village of Sauve is a maze of narrow streets, stairways, arched passages and beautiful 14th to 18th century houses with gothic façades.

A natural curiosity in Sauve is the Fontaine de Sauve, a spring, or resurgence, of the same type as the famous Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. Gushing out of the rock, its torrent is particularly impressive in autumn.

Also interesting, and unique to Sauve, is the Conservatoire de la Fourche, the only remaining place in France to still make pitchforks from the wood of hackberry trees.

To see and visit:

Four buildings listed as historic monuments

The Maison de l'Eveque, a bishop's house from the Middle Ages

the Môle Tower built by the Bermond d'Anduze family, lords of Sauve in the 12th century

the Maison Poche

the Oppidum of Sauve

Without forgetting

the church and its imposing bell tower

the Protestant church with its neo-classical façade surmounted by a huge triangular pediment

the medieval Clock Tower with a wrought-iron campanile

the Town hall with its neo-classical columns

In the area around Sauve