Val de Garonne: Tonneins highlighted by a tourist promotion application, while waiting for Marmandais

Archistoire, designed for the national CAUE network, now offers a ten-stage tour of the Cité des tabacs. This tool will soon be supplemented by a circuit between the city and Marmande, through the villages.

AfterVilleneuve-sur-Lot , it's time for Tonneins . In 2023, the Cabinet d'architecture, d'urbanisme et de l'environnement (CAUE) 47 created, in cooperation with Smavlot, the Lot Valley Tourist Office (OT) and the Villeneuve communities, two stories promoting the culture and heritage of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, via Archistoire. Two years later, these tours have been downloaded 1,500 times.

Convinced of the potential of this application, designed for the national public service network five years ago, the Lot-et-Garonne branch turned to another part of the territory: the Garonne Valley. In collaboration with the Tourist Office and the Tonnein municipality, it has created a 2.5 km route (one and a half hours on foot) dedicated to the Cité des tabacs, starting from 3, boulevard Charles-de-Gaulle, which can be done on foot or by bicycle and is accessible to people with reduced mobility.

Nine stages follow: Place Jean-Jaurès then the kiosk of the same name, the former royal factory, the quays, the esplanade and the Saint-Pierre church, access to the greenway of the Canal des Deux Mers (via the D120 crossing the bridge over the Garonne), a stroll to discover the frescoes created during the Summer day and the Manu.

Each of them is accompanied by texts relating to their history. "The town was built on top of a natural terrace, on the right bank of the Garonne," we learn, for example, when we click on the description of the quays. "The built front of Tonneins dominates the river by about 20 meters." As for the Manu, Archistoire explains that "the arrival of the railway in 1855 led to a shift in the tobacco industry from the banks of the Garonne, in the south, to the town's brand-new station, in the north."

All of these elements "are sourced," emphasizes Fanny Mercati, head of communications for CAUE 47. "We relied on the City's work for the Tonneins museum. We were able to pick and choose according to our desires and the route." A "visual and audio immersion" is also offered, "using your smartphone in 360°."

Furthermore, the information contained in the application can be supplemented and modified. "If you want to add a point because you have found additional information about a building or a place, you can," explains Jean-Jacques Mirande, president of CAUE 47, to Dante Rinaudo and Christophe Zamprogno, director of the Tourist Office. The mayor said he was "very proud" that the digital tool is putting Tonneins in the spotlight, hoping that it will contribute "to the tourist development of our region."

The second one has projected himself: "The second step is to create a second circuit between Tonneins and Marmande, to make the connection which will pass through the other rural communes." If tourists are targeted, the latter wants to believe that the locals will take ownership of the application: "I think that many people from Lot-et-Garonne don't know the quays of Tonneins and this superb view that we have on the Garonne," he says, before confiding that he has "other ideas."

Creating a course costs between 12,000 and 15,000 euros. Organizations then pay according to the partnership agreement with the CAUE.