Vieux Brive (Old Town)

Brive-la-Gaillarde is the second city of the Corrèze, in the Limousin region, and its old town is the pleasant, compact area at the centre of the city, bounded by a ring of boulevards that follow the line of the old ramparts. The word Gaillarde in the town's name means bold or brave, a name given to the place for its resistance to attack in earlier centuries. Today it is known for its market, its food and its annual book fair, and the old town is a good place to experience it.

The old quarter has a mix of medieval lanes and Renaissance houses. In the sixteenth century wealthy merchants built townhouses with turrets and spiral staircases, and several of these survive on the narrow streets around the Collégiale Saint-Martin, the main church of the town. The most important is the Hôtel de Labenche, a Renaissance mansion that houses the Musée Labenche d'art et d'histoire, with collections ranging from archaeology and local history to art. The courtyard of the town hall, a former residence from the seventeenth century, is another quiet corner worth a look. The Chapelle Saint-Libéral, a chapel of the fifteenth century, now serves for exhibitions.

For a change of scene there is the nineteenth-century theatre, now known as L'Empreinte, and the Halle Georges Brassens, the covered market hall that is the centre of food shopping in Brive. Markets are held on several mornings a week, including Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and sell local products such as walnuts, truffles in season, cheese, foie gras and regional charcuterie. The Corrèze is in the Périgord and Limousin food country, and the market is an easy place to taste it. Brive also has a museum of the Resistance and Deportation, a reminder of the role the region played in the Second World War.

Every November the town hosts the Foire du Livre, one of the largest book fairs in France, which brings authors and readers to the halls of the town. At other times of the year, the old streets are quiet and pleasant for strolling. The streets are public and open at any hour, and entry to the museums and theatre is separate.

The old town suits food lovers, those looking for an authentic provincial town and travellers breaking a journey between the Dordogne and the Auvergne. A couple of hours is enough to see the main sights, and more if you shop at the market.