Rustrel is a small, sober and discreet village nestling on a hillside and watched over by a beautiful 17th century castle that today houses the town hall. The presses, the capstan, the filter and the cauldron can still be seen, presented in the state in which they would have been found at the time. In addition, for connoisseurs, the town has truffle fields in which the delectable black truffles grow. The Chateau of Rustrel.
In the past, Rustrel was an important centre of ochre production and the exploitation of the quarries has sculpted magnificent landscapes. Today, people come to marvel at the colours and the shapes. In the heart of a mining and metallurgic district, Rustrel also had two steel foundries. Two high furnaces still testify to this past activity. In the present day, Rustrel proves itself to be just as industrious: this small town is home to the Low-Noise Underground Laboratory.
The laboratory can be visited on Heritage Days check the dates with the local tourist office. Already a chapel before , it was enlarged and altered in Its apse has the particularity of being semi-circular inside and pentagonal outside.
Built of cut stone on posts and low walls, it channeled the runoff waters on this fragile land towards a mill. Gignac, right nearby, is a minuscule hilltop village of 48 inhabitants. Set at metres altitude and dominated by its castle, it is the smallest village in the Vaucluse. Time seems to have stood still here; no shops, restaurants or hotels have opened. Visiting the village promises you exceptional views over the surrounding sites and also lets you retrace its history through the streets' names, chosen based on popular memory.
Gignac was left untouched by the Wars of Religion in the 16th century and the visitor can still see the vestiges of its past, such as the fortifications, its 12th century Romanesque church with a semi-circular apse, an old windmill, houses with towers, a washhouse and its castle. Gastronomy, markets of Provence, regional products, Christmas traditions, celebrities of Provence Rustrel and Gignac The smallest villages in the Vaucluse. In the area around the village of Rustrel you can visit - the Notre-Dame-des-Anges Church and the ruins of its hermitage.
