Gâtinais
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Gâtinais (pronounced
Under the
The western part, Gâtinais orléanais, approximately corresponds to the arrondissements of Montargis and a large part of Pithiviers, in Loiret. Pithiviers has for several centuries been the most representative town of Gâtinais. The eastern part, Gâtinais français, had Nemours as its chief town, and corresponds to the arrondissement of Fontainebleau in Seine-et-Marne.
This is an essentially agricultural area, although the west is wooded. It was for several centuries known for its saffron, a crop that disappeared from this area because of the heavy charges on human work and the impossibility to mechanise this particular crop; these days saffron makes a timid reappearance in the local fields under the impulse of natural regional park of Gâtinais français.[1] It is also famous for its honey, produced by traditional methods in the whole area.
Literary use
A region called Gâtinais is a neighbour of the fictional land of Poictesme in James Branch Cabell's Biography of the Life of Manuel.
References
- ^ (in French) Gastronomy[permanent dead link], in le-republicain.fr. Article on the launching of a saffron plantation in Villeneuve-sur-Auvers in the Gâtinais.