Flavigny-sur-Ozerain

Flavigny sits inside medieval walls on a flat-topped hill, and its trade is a sweet: the Anis de Flavigny, made since 1591 in the buildings of a Carolingian abbey, is a single aniseed coated in layer after layer of sugar syrup over about fifteen days in rotating copper pans. The oval tins with a shepherdess on the lid are sold across France. Part of the abbey, including an eighth-century crypt beneath the working factory, can be visited. Lasse Hallstrom filmed Chocolat here in 2000 and the village became briefly famous for it; the film set dressing is long gone.

History

Flavigny first appears as Flaviniacum in the charter of the Benedictine abbey founded here by Widerard in 719, and in the mid-9th century, as Viking raids increased, the relics of Saint Reine were brought from nearby Alise for safety; they are still here, returning to Alise each September for her feast. The town prospered in the Middle Ages on pilgrims, both to the relics and to Santiago de Compostela, and was walled in the 12th and 13th centuries, with the Porte du Val and the 15th-century Porte du Bourg still standing, though the English took it in the Hundred Years' War. An Ursuline convent was founded in 1632, but by the Revolution the abbey had perhaps only five monks; its buildings now house the factory of the Anis de Flavigny, and the village has fewer than 400 year-round residents (Wikipedia, Flavigny-sur-Ozerain).

The main sights

• The anise workshop - copper pans turning seeds in sugar over days.
• The Carolingian crypt - eighth-century vaults below the factory.
• The walled village - gates, stone lanes and the hill circuit.
• The Ozerain valley - views out over farmland from the ramparts.

When to go

April to October; the factory shop and visit run on weekday mornings mostly, so timing matters. The village is small and quiet, busier at weekends in summer.

Good to know

Factory access is limited to certain hours and does not include the whole production. Nothing of the Chocolat film remains. The village has few services and closes early.

Nearby

Semur-en-Auxois lies northwest; Alise-Sainte-Reine is close.

Key facts