In clear weather, the panorama from Malemort-Du-Comtat stretches from Mont Ventoux and the Dentelles de Montmirail to the Cévennes. The village’s character includes a historic centre with old houses and vaulted gateways, agricultural surroundings and routes featuring different landscape highlights. For planning purposes, three themes can be distinguished: architectural history, dry-stone architecture, and the links between cultivated landscapes and olive oil. The expansive views and the tangible traces in the village offer two ways to discover Malemort-Du-Comtat.
Traces of the Village’s History
In the historic village centre, old houses and vaulted gateways cluster around the Église Notre Dame de Calvias. The church dates from the 13th century. Inside is a gilded wooden altar with six 18th-century statues by Jacques Bernus. The building and its furnishings therefore represent different periods: the church is medieval, while the altar and statues date from the 18th century.
The Porte de la République dates from the 12th century and marks the main entrance to the former walled village centre. The Porte Saint Félix is another gateway, dating from the 13th century. There you will find a second covered washhouse and a 19th-century fountain. The dates therefore span the 12th to the 19th century; the structures represent several periods in the village’s history.
Cultivated Landscapes and Routes
Vineyards, olive groves and cherry orchards shape the cultivated landscape of Malemort-Du-Comtat. A total of 700 hectares are farmed. The Les plâtrières route alternates between cultivated land and pine forests and runs alongside a gypsum quarry. It climbs and offers views over the plain and surrounding hills.
The La Gardy circular route offers a different focus: it passes through the countryside towards Souleye and links bories and dry-stone walls with striking dry-stone structures on La Gardy hill, whose landscape is shaped by former terraces. The routes described therefore differ in their emphasis: Les plâtrières highlights the changing scenery of cultivated land, forest and quarry, as well as the views; La Gardy links dry-stone architecture with the hill’s former terraces.
Olive Oil and Cherries
At the La Colombe mill, extra virgin olive oil is cold-pressed using traditional methods, exclusively from the Aglandau olive variety. The mill offers tours, sales and tastings on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon. Check the visiting arrangements before you travel. The olive groves in the landscape and the processing at the mill show two sides of local olive growing.
The FĂŞte du terroir et de la cerise takes place every year on the last Sunday in June. Check the programme for the relevant year if you are planning your trip around the festival. This recurring date adds a seasonal event to the picture of the cherry orchards.
Agricultural Heritage
The Musée des outils agraires preserves agricultural tools as evidence of the area’s agricultural heritage and as a reminder of earlier generations. The museum is not open to the public, but its interior can be viewed through a virtual 360-degree tour. Two different ways of exploring the agricultural heritage are therefore available: the tools preserved in the museum and the digital tour of its interior. Together with the farmland and the olive mill, they offer a view of agriculture as part of the history and present-day cultivated landscape of Malemort-Du-Comtat.
Discover more destinations: Aurel, Crestet, Beaumont-Du-Ventoux, Puyméras, Villelaure, Buoux, Rustrel, Saint-Saturnin-Lès-Avignon.
For the main travel overview: Vaucluse.
