Château de la Fontaine, Renaissance castle in Anse, Rhône, France

The Château de la Fontaine stands on a hillside in Anse facing the Saône, beside the route nationale 6. Built in stages during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries in Renaissance style, it consists of two L-shaped wings framed by four pepper-pot turrets. The east-west wing has two storeys of galleries on columns, reached by a tower covered in scalloped tiles; the north-south wing has two storeys of mullioned windows and a monumental stone-framed entrance door.

The fief of La Fontaine passed through several families: Jean Covet is attested in 1570, then the Bessié family in the first half of the 17th century. Élisabeth Bessié, sole heiress, married Alexandre Bottu, king's secretary, and their descendants held the estate until Thérèse, who died in 1842 and bequeathed the château to the archdiocesan treasury of Lyon. The building itself was erected in stages during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries and has been classified as a monument historique since 1912.

The château is a private property and cannot be visited, so its name is what visitors encounter: the fief of la Fontaine, held in 1570 by Jean Covet and later by the Bessié and Bottu de la Barmondière families. In 1842 Thérèse, last heiress and canoness of Joursey in Forez, bequeathed it to the archbishopric of Lyon. The painter Utrillo depicted it in 1931.

The château is a private property and cannot be visited; there is no interior access or guided tour. It stands on a hillside facing the Saône, along the route nationale 6 in Anse, so it is seen from the road or from outside its grounds. Visitors should not enter the estate.

The castle was listed as a monument historique in 1912. In 1842 its owner Thérèse Bottu, a canoness of the chapter of Joursey in Forez, bequeathed it to the archdiocesan treasury of Lyon. The painter Utrillo depicted it in 1931. It remains a private property and is not open to visitors.