Ille-et-Vilaine is the crossroads of Brittany, the department that links the peninsula with the rest of France. Rennes, its capital, was from 1561 to 1789 the seat of the Parliament of Brittany, an institution that defended the province’s privileges against the centralising ambitions of the monarchy. This tradition of autonomy and resistance has left a lasting mark on the landscape of castles, made up of medieval fortresses that guarded the borders of Brittany.
Fougères, one of Europe’s largest medieval fortresses with its thirteen towers, guarded the border between Brittany and Maine. Vitré, with its triangular castle and its ‘pepperpot’ towers overlooking the medieval town, is one of the best-preserved sites in Brittany. Combourg, a sombre granite manor where the young Chateaubriand lived and which inspired his *Mémoires d’outre-tombe*, is one of France’s most famous literary castles.
The Emerald Coast, stretching from Saint-Malo to Cancale, unfolds its Belle Époque villas and manor houses against a backdrop of cliffs and beaches that the ‘pirate writer’ had described so lyrically from the ramparts of his hometown.