Anne d’Alègre Promenade

You’re now walking along the Anne d’Alègre Promenade, a shaded path that follows the line of Laval’s former medieval walls and offers a lovely view over Old Laval. Take a moment to look up: this is one of the best spots to admire the walls, rising strong and punctuated with round towers. In the Middle Ages, Laval was encircled by a wall over a kilometer long, reinforced with no fewer than twenty-seven towers and three great fortified gates, including the Beucheresse Gate you saw earlier. The entire heart of the town — its castle and church — was enclosed within, safe from attacks and fires. Today only fragments remain, but this walkway lets you follow their trace and imagine the closed city, with guards at the gates and townsfolk crowded inside. The promenade is named after Anne d’Alègre, a remarkable figure in Laval at the end of the 16th century. A Protestant and the widow of the town’s governor, she had to defend her lands and her son alone during the Wars of Religion. She took up arms, endured defeats, celebrated victories, went into exile, but always fought with the same determination. She could never have imagined that, five centuries later, her name would still be remembered along a peaceful path on the town’s old ramparts.