Puy-de-Dôme is the department of the Auvergne volcanoes, where the Chaîne des Puys — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — features more than eighty volcanic peaks set against a strikingly beautiful, moon-like landscape. Clermont-Ferrand, capital of the department and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is home to Michelin tyres and the black stone cathedral of Volvic, one of France’s most distinctive monuments.
The castle heritage of Puy-de-Dôme is closely linked to the history of the counts and dukes of Auvergne, who ruled over these volcanic lands from their medieval fortresses. Murol, a circular castle perched on a basalt outcrop overlooking Lake Chambon, offers one of the most vivid medieval re-enactments in France. Tournoël, romantic ruins perched on a rock overlooking the Riom plain; Herment; Calvinet; and La Tour-d’Auvergne, whose name was given to the Republic’s first grenadier… The list of Auvergne castles bears witness to the antiquity and richness of this heritage.
Riom, the former judicial capital of Auvergne, boasts a historic centre of remarkable coherence with its Renaissance mansions built of Volvic stone, bearing witness to the prosperity of Auvergne parliamentarians under the Ancien Régime.