For Sale: A 17th-Century Private Mansion in a Provençal Village With AD100-Designed Interiors
Bedrooms: 8 Bathrooms: 6 Interior: 580 m² / 6,243 ft²
Lot: 0.1 ha / 0.25 acres
Amenities: Inner courtyard, landscaped Mediterranean garden, secure free-form swimming pool, two terraces, panoramic tower bedroom, views toward Mont Ventoux, safre stone cellar, Roman-era paved pathway, garage, two parking spaces
Hidden at the top of a historic village in Provence’s Enclave des Papes, this 17th-century private mansion has been reimagined by Peruvian-born, Paris-based architect and AD100 designer Diego Delgado-Elias, while preserving its terracotta floors, frescoes, carved woodwork, French-style ceilings, stone fireplaces, and grand staircases. It is now listed with Emile Garcin for €1,980,000.
Photos by Emile Garcin Properties
The house is set in Visan, in the Vaucluse’s Enclave des Papes, a historic pocket of Provence once tied to the papal territory of Avignon. Until the French Revolution, the village formed part of this unusual papal enclave, and its historic quarter still contains grand residences once associated with members of the papal court. Today, the setting is one of old stone façades, covered passageways, fountain squares, vineyards, truffle country, and views toward Mont Ventoux.
Photos by Emile Garcin Properties
Built in the 17th century, the residence spans approximately 580 square metres / 6,243 square feet across three floors and is arranged around an inner courtyard planted with cypress and lime trees. Behind its stone façade, the house preserves many of the details that give it its sense of age and atmosphere: traditional terracotta parefeuille floors, carved woodwork, bucolic frescoes, French-style ceilings, Provençal plasterwork, carved stone fireplaces, and two elegant stone staircases.
Photos by Emile Garcin Properties
The renovation was overseen by Diego Delgado-Elias, whose Paris-based studio was founded in 2014 after earlier experience working between Peru, the United States, and France. Delgado-Elias has described his work as “timeless,” and the restoration reflects that approach: rather than impose a decorative signature on the house, the project appears to have been guided by the architecture, the village, and the existing historical layers of the property.
Before developing the interiors, Delgado-Elias immersed himself in the history of Visan and its surroundings. As he told Harper’s Bazaar, the team spoke with a historian to better understand the place and make more faithful design choices. The result is a house that feels restored rather than reinvented, with the original staircase, frescoes, terracotta floors, door frames, stone elements, and courtyard structure remaining central to the atmosphere.
Photos by Emile Garcin Properties
The warm palette of the interiors was shaped in part by the surviving 17th-century frescoes, whose bucolic scenes informed the tones used throughout the renovation. The result is layered and quietly theatrical: floor-to-ceiling tapestries, carved woodwork, chandeliers, gilded library spines, a formal dining room, generous reception spaces, and a grand entrance staircase that gives the house its sense of arrival.
The layout includes eight bedrooms, three bathrooms, and three shower rooms. On the ground floor, the entrance opens to a spiral staircase and hall, with a bedroom and shower room. The lower level contains a kitchen centred around an island, a back kitchen and utility room, and a dining room with fireplace.
Photos by Emile Garcin Properties
Two stone staircases lead to the upper floors. The first floor includes a formal reception lounge with fireplace, a grand dining room opening onto the terrace and garden, an intimate library nook set within an alcove, two bedrooms, and a bathroom with shower. The second floor includes a games room and TV lounge, a laundry room, two adjoining children’s bedrooms sharing a bathroom, one bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, and another with a shower room.
One of the most distinctive spaces is the tower bedroom, reached by a wooden spiral staircase. Bathed in natural light, it includes a bathtub and washroom facilities, along with access to a large panoramic terrace overlooking the village rooftops, the surrounding countryside, and Mont Ventoux in the distance.
The grounds extend to approximately 1,000 square metres / 10,764 square feet and include mature trees, Mediterranean planting, terraces, and a secure free-form swimming pool. The garden also contains two rare historical features: a Roman paved pathway dating back to the 4th century and a vast safre stone cellar that naturally maintains a constant temperature.
Today, the property is operated as a boutique bed and breakfast, a natural fit for this quieter corner of Provence, where the appeal lies in slow, atmospheric travel: truffle markets at Richerenches, the château at Grignan, Côtes du Rhône vineyards, village squares, cycling routes, and long views toward Mont Ventoux. It could continue as a refined hospitality address or return to use as a substantial private residence.
Photos by Emile Garcin Properties
The house is located approximately 20 minutes from the A7 motorway, 30 minutes from Orange station, 50 minutes from Avignon TGV station, and 1 hour 20 minutes from Marseille-Provence International Airport.
All photographs belong to the listing agency. See more on Emile Garcin
