Head out on the trail of Toulouse’s Renaissance secrets, those hidden architectural gems that were built on the wealth of woad trading.

Lucky me, I am dining in considerable style at Le Cénacle, the restaurant within La Cour des Consuls, Toulouse’s only five-star hotel. An admirably preserved historic site combining two 18th-century mansions, this sumptuous hotel in the Carmes district is a mere pink brick’s throw from the Garonne river.

My main course has arrived a perfectly delicate fillet of red mullet served with a sweet onion compote, soupe de poisson reduction and zesty quinoa salad nattily (and wittily) housed in a wafer-thin, crab-shaped bread ‘shell’. While it is hard to take my eyes off the wonderful culinary creations of young chef Clément Convard, the aesthetics of this dining room cannot be ignored for long. Behind me is a full-wall reproduction of “The Supper at Emmaus”, a 1601 painting by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, while dominating the opposite wall is a stunning Renaissance fireplace dating from 1536 featuring the coat of arms of the Barrassy family, who lived here between 1534 and 1607.

The restaurant provides a tantalising glimpse of Toulouse’s rich Renaissance heritage – specifically its magnificently restored hôtels particuliers (see boxout overleaf) – reminders of a key era in its history, which can now be explored thanks to a bespoke guided tour. And so begins my own visit next morning with a rendez-vous at the Donjon tourist office, in the company of guide Sarah. She has the door keys to secret gems that visitors cannot usually access…

Into the blue

Many colours spring to mind when one thinks of Toulouse. The red and black of the city’s mega-successful, wildly well-supported rugby team, Stade Toulousain. Next there is violet, colour of the cut purple flowers which provided some 600 local families with a living at the beginning of the 19th century, and which lives on in various violet-related products (sweets and soaps) sold in local boutiques. And then there’s pink, of course! This is la ville rose, after all, so nicknamed for the clay bricks first hewn and baked by the Romans. These neatly ranged, relatively thin blocks are called briques foraines in French, the word forain derived from the Latin foraneus (‘from the exterior’) – a logical name for a building material sourced from outside of town.

But actually, the colour to which Toulouse’s aesthetic owes the greatest debt is largely no longer evident-except on its bus and metro travel card, that is: the distinctive blue shade of pastel, or woad as it is known in English. This highly resistant dye was formed when leaves from the woad plant (Isatis tinctoria, with yellow flowers, confusingly) were dried, crushed and fermented (with the aid of urine!). It was during the Renaissance that woad cultivation and the trade in its dye flourished, especially in the Lauragais region between Toulouse, Albi and Carcassonne, an area that became known as the Blue Triangle.

The ping-pong ball sized, hand-formed spheres of dried woad leaves were called cocagnes (from the Occitan word cocas, meaning ball) and these were sold to dye manufacturers. Local traders became super-wealthy, allowing them to build the ‘palaces’ or hôtels particuliers that we see today.

As Sarah succinctly puts it, “the pink city is built on pastel”. Woad’s triggering role in transforming the cityscape came in the century following a devastating fire in 1463. Lasting up to 12 days, the inferno started in the south of the city in a bakery and around 7,000 of the city’s wooden houses were destroyed.
Added to this, King Charles VII’s 1420 decision to establish a court of justice in the form of a Parliament (the Parlement de Toulouse housed in the Capitole, now Toulouse’s city hall and most emblematic edifice) meant lawyers and capitouls (governing magistrates) could also construct grandiose homes in the heart of the city.

Pigment and imagination

Back to the Renaissance tour, and after leaving le Donjon (built between 1525 and 1529) we head up Rue Saint-Rome towards Hôtel de Bernuy, one of the grandest single-family homes back in the 16th century, later a Jesuit school and now home to the Pierre de Fermat secondary school. Set around two courtyards, it would be hard to find a more inspiring place in which to study. The 26.5m-high chapter house tower points to the considerable social power of the owner – Spanish-born pastel merchant Jean de Bernuy and his accession to the capitole. Yes, of course the wealthy could buy power! Sarah’s key fob allows us exclusive access for photo ops of Toulouse’s earliest Renaissance stylings inspired by Italian architecture – I’m not surprised to hear that such grandeur was a major aid to impressing potential pastel-buying clients.

Next stop on the trail is Rue du May, featuring the Hôtel Dumay, home of the artefact-packed Musée du Vieux Toulouse (open afternoons only), and, further along on Rue Jules-Chalande, Hôtel Jean Bolé with its tower alongside built by another owner, Pierre Séguy. You can stay inside the tower d’Assézat, a short stroll down Rue de Metz and close to the Ponf Neuf, was designed by Bachelier, the greatest Toulouse architect of the Renaissance period, and completed by his son in 1562, for the leading woad merchant and (naturally) capitoul, Pierre d’Assézat.

Upon entering the vast cour d’honneur (courtyard), whose entrance was large enough to welcome the carriages of visiting clients (Assézat shipped vast quantities of dye to Spain, Holland and the UK), the sheer scale sets it apart from other Toulouse hôtels.

Such was Assézat’s ambition and wealth that, when he commissioned the building in 1555, he went full-bore on elaborate classical Renaissance decoration elements, not to mention ordering the city’s tallest private mansion tower. It’s a breathtaking sight and a must-see for any visitor to Toulouse, whether you are on a Renaissance-themed recce or not. As if this weren’t legacy enough, the hôtel assumed a second life of cultural importance when it became the permanent home of the expansive art collection of patron Georges Bemberg. Born in 1915, the Argentinian-born industrialist of German origin had an early eye for collecting: aged just 20 he made his first Pissarro acquisition in New York. Throughout his life, his eclectic tastes saw him acquire many masterpieces, from Cranach to Veronese, from the Venetians and Impressionists to Post-Impressionist Pierre Bonnard, his favourite painter. Spot works by Monet, Degas, Matisse, Gaugin and more, as well as, in the room devoted to Bonnard, the latter’s last self-portrait as a frail old man in 1945. The recent modernisation of the Fondation Bemberg is well executed, offering visitors an entertaining chronological trip through art history, in pristine Renaissance surroundings. Pastel’s golden age died out as the market collapsed with the rise of the Indian indigo trade, a competing dye plant that was faster to process. But thanks to those big-spending, taste-making traders with an eye for a Renaissance flourish, visitors to the pink city have plenty to appreciate… even if some parts are only accessible to those in the know!

TOULOUSE ESSENTIALS

GETTING THERE

BY PLANE

Flights are available from all major UK airports to Toulouse-Blagnac airport, with direct transfers into the city centre by bus, tram and taxi.

BY TRAIN

Trains from Paris Gare Montparnasse to Toulouse Matabiau take on average four hours and 20 minutes.

WHERE TO STAY

Located in the historic district of Carmes, La Cour des Consuls Hotel & Spa (MGallery by Sofitel) is Toulouse’s only 5-star hotel. This perfectly preserved historic site boasts a fine inner courtyard perfect for an outdoor summer apéro while inside, the majestic staircase leads the way to a range of rooms featuring contemporary design and period décor.: 32 rooms, including six suites, feature marble, wood, steel and leather for a luxury, prestige stay in the heart of the city.

WHERE TO EAT

Le Cénacle is the hotel’s superb restaurant with a bewitching Renaissance dining room. Here talented chef Clément Convard blends refined classical cuisine with an inventive Occitan twist. The dinner menu ‘Menu Intuition’ costs €75, while a wine-pairing across three courses (accord mets-vin) costs an additional €35. For a great value and authentic brasserie experience, head to Chez Marcel, where a lunchtime pièce du boucher (butcher’s cut) of steak-frites costs just €12.95, while your pâtisserie du jour dessert choice is €6.

www.chezmarcel.fr/en

WHAT TO DO

Take the two-hour Toulouse à la Renaissance tour (€13). Book at Office de tourisme de Toulouse, in the Donjon du Capitole, Square Charles de Gaulle. Since some of the hotels and courtyards are private property, you will enjoy better access when accompanied by a guide and learn more too, as the tourist office tour offers terrific insights into architectural highlights and historical facts. The Pass Tourisme (€26 for 3 days) includes many free or discounted travel and museum options, including a free guided tour. Fondation Bemberg offers a feast for the eyes of art lovers in the amazing Hotel d’Assézat. Adult entry, €11. www.fondation-bemberg.fr

Toulouse Tourist Office

From France Today Magazine