Our village (200 souls ...) is one of the "most beautiful villages in France". We are in the heart of Ténarèze, 5 kilometers from the sub-prefecture of Condom, also called Condom-en-Armagnac or Condom-sur-Baïse. Our village town is located in the department of Gers, region of Occitanie. We are called the Larressingloises / Larressinglois.

A few dates… Larressingle enters history at the start of the 11th century. Father Hugues de Gascogne, who became bishop of Agen and Bazas, donated his lands from Larressingle and the church of Saint-Sigismund to his successor. The possession of the church and the villa is

confirmed in 1163 and 1245 by the bubbles of the popes Alexander III and Innocent IV. This is how the abbots and then the bishops of Condom became the lords of the place. In the 13th century, the crown of France and England competed for Aquitaine. It was the abbots of Condom who built this fortress.

Larressingle Castle does not seem to have played a military role during the Hundred Years War. Pass the years ... From the XVIIth century, the castle was abandoned by the bishops in favor of that of Cassaigne more modern. And it was at the end of the 18th century that Mgr d'Anterroches, the last bishop of Condom, had the roof dismantled and the lumber transported to Cassaigne. Sold as national property, it is cut up and emptied. It was then that the village itself fell into oblivion. Small and inconvenient, it is easier to live outside.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the fortress is doomed to disappear. Only three houses are inhabited, the others transformed into a barn or abandoned, lose roofs and stones. The village owes its restoration to the initiative of the Duke of Treviso who founded a backup committee with Boston financiers who will supply the funds until 1938!

Today, almost 200,000 people visit this "little Carcassonne". A few cables away, you can cross the Artigue bridge. It is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO as a crossing point of the Compostela paths in France. It is a Romanesque work of four arches which remains one of the rare contemporary witnesses of the way to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle.