The Yonne is the Burgundian department closest to Paris, a land of vineyards — Chablis, Irancy, Saint-Bris — and forests which for centuries served as the main wine route between Burgundy and the capital. The River Yonne, navigable as far as Paris via its confluence with the Seine at Montereau, was for centuries the commercial artery through which Burgundy wines were transported to Parisian merchants.
Auxerre, the department’s capital on the banks of the Yonne, boasts a Gothic cathedral whose façade with three portals is one of the finest in France, and a collection of medieval half-timbered houses that bear witness to the town’s commercial prosperity in the Middle Ages. Sens, France’s first Gothic city, whose Saint-Étienne Cathedral served as a model for Canterbury and many other European Gothic buildings; Vézelay, whose Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site…
Tanlay and Ancy-le-Franc, two Renaissance châteaux of exceptional architectural and decorative quality, bear witness to the Italian influence that spread throughout Burgundy in the 16th century, driven by the great aristocratic families who introduced the fashions of François I’s court into their provincial residences.