Vendettas, nuraghi and the marches: A dying swan

Richelieu is not on the list of the most beautiful villages in France, and I am not sure why that is, as it has many of the typical characteristics of one: it has a fascinating history, elegant architectural bones and is, basically, a dying, if not completely dead, swan -- factors they all seem to have in common to me.

There has been a village in this place since well before 1342 when salt became a state monopoly and salt granaries like Richelieu were taxed for the state coffers. In this village in the 17th century lived a young boy who later grew up to be appointed Cardinal Richelieu. When he came to prominence as Cardinal, Richelieu had his old village given a complete facelift, using Jacques Lemercier, the architect who designed the Sorbonne and the Cardinal's Palais in Paris. Influence counts. And access to funds.

The result was a village completely encircled by walls with wide grid streets and large smart squares, with townhouses and public buildings in elegant architectural style, distinctive monumental gates, surrounding pleasure and vista gardens somewhat like Versailles, and some fairly rigorous caveats as to who could build what inside its village walls.

It took some 2000 men all of 11 years to build and when it was complete it was touted as being one of 'most beautiful villages in the universe' and kings and nobles came from far and wide to see it. It is easy to see how it once was very beautiful. But little bits are chipping off and decay is setting in and it seems to be in dire need of another Richelieu to come along with another injection of funds, to give it life. There may be an answer for some of these tired old villages of character in such places, a way to rejuvenate them, and that might be to turn them into specialist places, like a university along the lines of the Law School we saw a couple of years ago, in South Royalton in Vermont. Such a sensible solution. Why build complete new edifices and infrastructure when small towns like this are mostly all there, and just need repair. And would lend themselves so beautifully to ready-made lecture and tutorial halls, and student and staff accommodation.