Tour of Rétif de La Bretonne Country (Yonne)

Starting in Auxerre, a city of art and history with elegant bell towers, the trail first crosses the sculpted valleys of Courgis and Préhy, where Chardonnay flourishes on unique Kimmeridgian soil, offering horizons of hills dotted with vines. Upon reaching Sacy, the birthplace of the visionary writer Nicolas Restif, the hiker is immersed in the rural atmosphere of the 18th century that so inspired "The Perverted Peasant." The heritage becomes more mineral in Saint-Bris-le-Vineux, famous for its labyrinthine medieval cellars carved beneath limestone houses. Here, nature offers a harmonious alternation between cereal-growing plateaus and wooded valleys, where the Burgundy light enhances the Romanesque churches. The return to Champs-sur-Yonne follows the meanders of the river, offering welcome shade under the poplars after crossing the sun-drenched plateaus. sous les peupliers après la traversée des plateaux ensoleillés.

Rétif de la Bretonne was a French writer born October 23, 1734 in Sacy, Burgundy, and died February 3, 1806 in Paris. He is the author of a prolix and varied work, including novels, autobiographical stories, philosophical essays and political pamphlets. Rétif is a complex and contradictory writer. He is both a lucid observer of the society of his time and a visionary who proposes daring social utopias. He is also a passionate writer, who explores themes of love, sex and religion with great freedom. Rétif's work is often considered to be on the fringes of classical literature. However, she had an important influence on many writers, including Balzac, Flaubert and Zola.

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