Pont-Saint-Esprit (French pronunciation: [pɔ̃ sɛ̃.t‿ɛspʁi], literally "Holy Spirit Bridge"; Occitan: Lo Pònt Sant Esperit) is a commune in the Gard département in southern France.

"[3] Italian canon Antonio de Beatis described the bridge in his 1517-1518 travel journal: "This has twenty tall, wide arches, is finely built in a pleasing stone and is still better paved.

"[4] In the seventeenth century the Jewish immigrants from Spain were cast out of central Bayonne and settled in Saint Esprit.

This quarter became known in popular parlance as Saint Esprit les Israélites because Jews constituted the majority of its population -which was extremely rare in France.

It was a Jew of Spanish origin, Gaspar Dacosta, who introduced the art of chocolate-making to Saint Esprit, and indeed in France.