One of the loveliest of France’s most beautiful villages, Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is perhaps best known as the setting for the film Chocolat starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp.
In ‘real life’ though, the village is famous, not for chocolate, but for aniseed lollies.
Lolly production takes place in the abbey, built in the eighth century for the Benedictine monks. The same recipe has been in use since the sixteenth century but today the lollies are available in a wide variety of flavours.
The abbey and lolly production line are open to the public on weekday mornings or you can visit the lolly shop Anis de Flavigny—but check the website as opening hours for the shop and the abbey vary throughout the year.
Below the abbey, crypts from the Carolingian time (ninth century) can also be visited and are open in the morning and afternoon.
The first historical records of Flavigny date back to 52 BC: Julius Caesar, after losing the battle of Gergovie, set up two camps and his field HQ on the hill of Flavigny. From here, he went on to lay siege to Vercingetorix, who had regrouped at Alesia. The Gallo-Roman town of Flavien was then founded, gradually acquiring a population of artisans, tradesmen and farmers of all types. In 719, Widerard of Burgundy, who ruled over Flavigny and its surroundings, founded the Benedictine Abbey. It’s in this same abbey that three generations of the Troubat family have been making Les Anis de Flavigny.
With three fortified gates, ramparts, artisan dwellings (formerly occupied by tanners, oil-makers, millers, potters, tins-smiths, glazers, weavers and winemakers), shop windows, town houses and a lookout tower, the village remains a prized spot and haven of tranquillity for tourists and ramblers alike.
Life here was a meeting of worlds: the country peasants, the town-folk and the church, illustrated by the village’s monuments. These include the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Pierre (719), the parish church of Saint Genest (11th and 15th centuries), the Ursuline convent (1632), the Dominican novitiate opened by Père Lacordaire in 1848 in the house formerly owned by the Bailiff of Auxois, and the Hôtel du Marquis de Souhey, the Governor of Flavigny, which currently serves as the headquarters for the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Joseph-de-Clairval.
The 340 people who currently inhabit this village of exceptional beauty are a diverse group, living and working to breathe life and energy into the community. They include young farmers, a winemaker, a farming cooperative (La Grange), a blacksmith, a wool producer, a post office, a grocery in the centre of the village, various artisanal boutiques, art galleries, guest houses and chalets, two restaurants, a unique Anis factory and a community of Benedictine monks!
A combination of sustainable farming and political dedication has allowed this part of the Auxois to preserve its historic environment and landscape. Take a walk in this woodland environment and you’ll see a wide range of protected birds and animals, not to mention the rich variety of plants and trees. Walkers and cyclists alike cherish the paths and trails winding through the area’s valleys and forests.
