Nolay, Côte-d'Or

Nolay is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It lies in the heart of the Cozanne Valley, where the forests and plains to the north and west give way to the hillside vineyards of the Burgundian wine regions around Beaune and the Chalonnaise hills to the south. It is a small medieval market town and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful towns on the southern edge of the Côte-d'Or, known for its 14th century central market and its wooden framed houses. The D973 road runs through the town from La Rochepot and Beaune in the east to Saisy and Autun in the west. Nolay was the birthplace of the physician and encyclopedist Louis-Anne La Virotte, the mathematician, physicist and politician Lazare Carnot, whose birth house is a local attraction, and the later President of the Republic Marie François Sadi Carnot. Other natives include the general Claude Marie Carnot de Feulins, the painter and designer Vivant Beaucé, the politician Jean Garchery and the writer and geographer Alice Poulleau.