Tour de Tivoli, Historic tower in Valréas, France
The Tour de Tivoli, also known as Croupatière, is a medieval stone tower in Valréas, in southern France, built as part of the town's defensive walls. It has a square plan, thick stone walls, arrow slits, machicolations, and a crenellated platform at the top.
The tower was first mentioned in records from 1231, when Valréas was building its defensive ring. In the mid-15th century the walls were reinforced and the tower was improved, but after the French Revolution the fortifications slowly fell apart and the moats were filled in between 1761 and the early 1800s.
The tower is sometimes called Croupatière in old documents, a name that points to its role as a watchtower. Visitors can still see the arrow slits and the crenellated top, which make its defensive purpose easy to read from the outside.
The tower is in the center of Valréas and easy to reach on foot. It is listed as a monument historique and open to the public, so visiting in the morning tends to mean fewer people around.
Although most of Valréas's medieval walls were demolished during the 19th century, this tower survived as the only fully standing element of the original fortification. It was not officially protected until 1932, nearly a century after the rest of the walls had gone.
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