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Origin and history

The castle of the Rouret finds its origins in a first fortification built around 1038 by Rainouard, a companion of the princes of Antibes, lords of Grasse. This first castle was destroyed in 1230 when the count of Provence took over control of the eastern Provence. A new castle was then built on the current site, but the place was abandoned around 1400, while remaining a fief of Grasse's house.

The present castle, in Provencal style, was built in the last third of the seventeenth century, after 1671. In 1672 Charles de Geoffroy's widow acquired the seigneury of the Rouret for her son, Charles II de Geoffroy, who became his lord. The monument was profoundly transformed in the 19th century, notably by the reconstruction of its western third after its acquisition by local families such as the Roux or the Agards.

In the 18th century, Joseph-Louis de Geoffroy du Rouret, a naval officer and counter-admiral who had participated in the American War of Independence, was the owner of the war before emigrating in 1792. The castle, seized as a good emigré, was then transformed into an oil factory. In the 20th century he passed into the hands of the Poniatowski family, of which Michel Poniatowski, former Minister of State, resided. Several elements of the castle, including vaults, facades and interior decorations, have been protected as historical monuments since 1992 and 1994.

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