Usson

Queen Margot, first wife of Henry IV, spent twenty years under guard here, from 1585 to 1605, in a fortress of three walls and twenty towers that Richelieu later had demolished. The village clings to a volcanic peak above the Allier valley, inside the Livradois-Forez regional park, and its basalt columns are among the sights.

Highlights

• The basalt organ pipes, columns of volcanic rock
• The church of Saint-Maurice
• The site of the vanished castle, whose motto warned only of traitors and hunger
• Walks in the Livradois-Forez regional nature park

Text adapted from Wikipedia (Usson (Puy-de-Dôme), Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, Usson), Wikivoyage (Usson). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.