Tricastin

They remained pilgrimage sites throughout the medieval era up until the French Revolution, and house numerous religious communities today.

Winters are generally milder than in the northern part of the Drôme and in the Ardèche but cooler than in Provence where the difference is two to three degrees Celsius on average.

Temperatures can thus be very hot in summer and the downpours brutal, the Tricastin valley being located as it is between the Cévennes Piedmont (in the Gard and Ardèche departments) and the town of Nyons in the Baronnies (Drôme and Vaucluse).

[8] In this region, as in others, truffle growers got together and formed professional associations such as the Drôme des Collines or the Syndicat général de la truffe noire du Tricastin with headquarters at the Maison de la Truffe et du Tricastin in Saint Paul Trois Châteaux.

It is the chief industrial plant in the Tricastin valley area and supplies the energy needs for the departments of Ardèche, Drôme, Vaucluse and the Gard.

Significantly improved by construction during the 20th century, the Tricastin valley is criss-crossed by Route nationale 7 (RN7), freeway A7, the TGV Méditerranée high-speed train, and a dense network of departmental roads, and by the Donzère-Mondragon canal.