The villageMétéo
| 44.2% |  | France |
| 31.5% |  | Netherlands |
| 5.4% |  | Israel |
| 4.9% |  | United States |
| 3.2% |  | |
| 3% |  | United Kingdom |
| 1.8% |  | Belgium |
| 1.1% |  | Germany |
| 0.4% |  | Canada |
| 0.4% |  | Switzerland |
| 0.4% |  | Spain |
| 0.4% |  | Ireland |
| 0.3% |  | Denmark |
| 0.3% |  | Norway |
| 0.3% |  | Sweden |
| Total des visiteurs : | 68184 |
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Mentions légales Mairie de Bize-Minervois Responsable de la Publication : Alain Fabre Maire de Bize-Minervois Téléphone Mairie : 04 68 46 10 29 Hôtel de Ville 11120 Bize Minervois |
Bize actuel
The village
The village
Somewhere in the middle of the scrublands, with vines and pine trees, runs a river. On its banks lies a Village that only the Languedoc can offer. Life at a great pace, a sunny flash. In the alleyways, there is always something to say; a dogs bark emitting from under a porch, closed shutters secretly keeps the cool inside a house.
Also, that whiff of fennil, the sound of the door bell Chez Robert, the plain tress murmering with cicadas…. Take only a few steps along the small walled paths, with ageless look out towers, gardens of lavender and caper plants, and distant memories of a mans’ footprint of 40 000 years ago, close to here, in the caves of Las Fons...
One can stand, with a sprig of wild mint dangling from the corner of ones mouth, listening to the sounds of the warm wind through the reeds by the small pebbled beach, slip into the refreshing water of the River Cesse, while saying to yourself- not too loudly, there is nowhere else like this.
And tonight, while the setting sun looks like dying embers around the hills, the village will re-awake; crunchy olives with a faint flavour of bayleaf, a drizzle of our olive oil on a half tomato that was grown in our local gardens, a local goats cheese to share while trying to discover which of our local wines is the best in the world!
Benvenguts al pais de la vida vertadièra.
Welcome to the place where real life is found!
Special thanks to our translator, Michael Bowditch.
Bize, my village... (Roger Monié)
Bize, my village, was already offering Man a comfortable welcome 40,000 years ago (scientists have given us the proof) in spacious caves irrigated by a river, the Douze, whose waters rose warm from the depths of the earth. Man shared this habitat, no doubt alternating with cave bears, hyenas and big cats that, like him, fed on the meat of reindeer, horses and deer that were then plentiful.
The Roman coloniser, who made Gallia Narbonensis the most important province of Rome in the second century BC, established agricultural holdings at the spot where the valley of the Cesse broadens out, about two kilometres downstream from the caves. Thus was created a "Villa Bizani" whose name makes reference to that of a Roman citizen, perhaps a centurion, who took possession of it. And it is from that time then that Bize has been Bize. The residents of Bize remark, in all modesty, that this gives them a bit of a head start over towns that are today considered more important, like Paris or New York for example. If there are still Roman ruins to be found in the commune, they are not within the precinct of the village, where the oldest structures are mediaeval. The street grid pattern of the present village is that of the settlement fortified in the 12th century with its church in the centre and dwellings nestling around it behind defensive walls and a moat fed by the Cesse, the local river. For even houses have to stick together in troubled times.
At the time of the wars of religion, attacks on the village and the need to defend it were frequent occurrences, as they were throughout the region, but, at Bize, the accounts of the historians, almost always tragic, do have their lighter moments. The night watchman was once set upon by attackers for having indulged rather too much in the local muscat wine. But no blood was shed. It was in 1573, at the time of the wars of religion, when the muscat already had peace-making properties. It has never stopped improving in the intervening years, as you will be able to taste for yourself at the earliest possible opportunity.
The village did not begin to spread beyond its ramparts until the Enlightenment and it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that it had a bridge that could withstand the sudden and forceful flood waters of the Cesse. This bridge will make it possible for the settlement to extend onto the left bank, now known as the "Faubourg" (suburb). Like every self-respecting town, Bize has a coat of arms. If you look at it more closely, you will notice depictions of snakes, reminiscent of a certain make of motor car made in Milan. This has nothing to do with commercial sponsorship. The coat of arms was conceived in an era well before that of the automobile. In 1673 the archbishop of Narbonne, who included Bize amongst his seigneurial lands, was Cardinal Bonzi, a Milanese by origin. In the nineteenth century, after heated debate, his arms were chosen among others to be those of Bize. It was perhaps their aesthetic merits that held more sway. Every visitor can reach his own judgement on this because the arms are inscribed in the stone of the Porte St Michel, through which one must pass to reach the heart of the village.
To understand Bize today you have to take full account of the overwhelming influence of wine production. After a golden age in the nineteenth century, when to all intents and purposes vines were the only local crop, they still dominate local lands under cultivation today. The crises of the twentieth century, including that of 1907, memory of which still lives in the local consciousness, lead to crop diversification (the return of olive trees and other crops) and to the appearance of new economic activities, notably those linked to tourism. But the vine remains ever present and heavily influential in the cultural roots of the village. Paying scant regard to boundaries, demanding involvement of the whole community in its major work routines of cultivation (picking, grubbing up, planting) and needing collective decision-making about a product that has some magic about it, it is the principal source of that conviviality and that solidarity in which every visitor is warmly invited to participate.
If you are tempted to spend some time in Bize, you will certainly get to know the Logis Colbert, a building that is hard to miss on the bank of the Cesse. A former cloth factory built in the sixteenth century when the wool industry was flourishing in the Aude, Colbert accorded it the royal warrant, which allowed it to export, especially to the Levant. Manufacturing stopped with the onset of the Revolution but the name remained and the present owners are always ready to let you relive the weaving, carding, spinning, dyeing and all those operations in which the village workforce excelled.
Today Bize is an ideal stepping-off point for all sorts of excursions in the Languedoc Roussillion and not just by car. Numerous peaceful footpaths around the village, some of them way-marked, give you a chance to appreciate striking landscapes and get closer to the great variety of Mediterranean flora. Between the village and its suburb, at the foot of ancient walls, the Cesse provides everyone with spots for bathing in its crystal-clear waters. For mountain biking enthusiasts the so-called vine tracks can be explored on two wheels. These tracks are also very convenient for pony-trekking, organised by one of the local "ranches".
If you do decide to get around by car, it only takes ten kilometres or so to reach the castles known as "Cathar", abbeys founded in the time of Charlemagne and beauty spots in the Black Mountain and on the rugged limestone plateaux ("Causses"). Finally, several beaches are accessible, only about thirty kilometres away. They are vast, renowned for their fine sand, their breadth and open to all.
If Bize has been able to evolve without too many serious disruptions over twenty centuries it is because its inhabitants have always been careful to keep up with the times. This is still the case today, with the provision of their much visited website, on which you can find key facts and practical information to stimulate your interest (www.bize-minervois.fr). And then come to see us......
Last Updated (Monday, 20 September 2010 07:58)