Communes of eastern and central France

Allonzier-la-Caille

Allonzier-la-Caille (also written Allonzier la Caille), commune in Haute-Savoie, France, INSEE code 74006, 2,253 inhabitants (2023), 13 km north of Annecy; known for the Pont suspendu de la Caille (1839) and the disused Bains de la Caille thermal site.

Alsace

Alsace (Elsass), eastern French territory between Vosges and Rhine; capital Strasbourg. Former French province, German Reichsland 1871-1918, reannexed 1940-44; since 2021 the Collectivité européenne d'Alsace within Grand Est.

Annecy

Annecy, prefecture of Haute-Savoie, France, on Lake Annecy; commune nouvelle since 2017 merging six communes; 132,117 inhabitants (2023), major Alpine tourist city with 3 million annual visitors.

Bar-le-Duc

Bar-le-Duc, prefecture of the Meuse department in northeastern France, former capital of the duchy of Bar; Renaissance upper town, Musée barrois, Ligier Richier's Transi, and goose-quill-deseeded currant jam since 1344.

Besançon

Besançon, prefecture of the Doubs in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France, is a Roman-founded city in a loop of the Doubs, known for Vauban's 17th-century citadel, fort Griffon, and walls inscribed by UNESCO in 2008, and for its watchmaking industry founded in 1793.

Blavozy

Blavozy (INSEE 43032) is a commune in Haute-Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, above the Loire near Le Puy-en-Velay, known for its Magdalenian rock shelter, arkose quarries, one monument historique, and the Michelin civil-engineering tire plant.

Brangues

Brangues, Isère commune (INSEE 38055) on the Rhône, France; village of about 614 people with the Château de Brangues, Paul Claudel's home and tomb, and the Berthet affair that inspired Stendhal's Le Rouge et le Noir.

Bulcy

Bulcy (also Bulet) is a small commune in the Nièvre, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France, INSEE 58042, near La Charité-sur-Loire; 146 inhabitants (2023), known for its oolitic limestone quarry that supplied the nave of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire abbey.

Chalencon

Chalencon: name of places in south-central France, notably a commune in Ardèche (château, 1822 Protestant temple) and a medieval hamlet of Saint-André-de-Chalencon, Haute-Loire; also an ancient Barrington Atlas site.

Chambéry

Chambéry, prefecture of Savoie in southeastern France, former capital of the House of Savoy (1232-1563) in the cluse between Bauges and Chartreuse; about 60,000 inhabitants, annexed by France in 1860.

Champigneulles

Champigneulles is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France, just north of Nancy, home to one of France's largest breweries, founded in 1897.

Clermont-Ferrand

Clermont-Ferrand, city of about 146,000 in central France on the edge of the Massif Central; union of Clermont and Montferrand (édits of 1630 and 1731); home of Michelin, about 41,000 students, and ASM Clermont Auvergne rugby.

Cognin

Cognin (Savoie) is a commune near Chambéry, France, first recorded in 1107 as ecclesia de Cohonnino, known for its excavated Gallo-Roman villa (1969–1976), Château de Martinel, and Robert Badinter's 1943–44 shelter.

Colmar

Colmar, prefecture of France's Haut-Rhin department in Alsace, about 67,000 inhabitants, known for Little Venice canals, the Unterlinden Museum with the Isenheim Altarpiece, and its dry wine-growing microclimate.

Colmier-le-Bas

Colmier-le-Bas is a commune of 22 inhabitants in Haute-Marne, Grand Est, France (INSEE 52137), known for the Gallo-Roman villa at Les Cloisets with early 2nd-century mosaics, inscribed a monument historique in 1990.

Corlier

Corlier, commune in the Ain department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France; also a Pleiades ancient place (BAtlas 17 E1) typed as temple/sanctuary; medieval châtellenie of the seigneurs de Thoire et Villars.

Desaignes

Désaignes (Dézagne) is a medieval village de caractère in the Ardèche valley of the Doux, France, with a 14th-century castle, Roman remains, and a Protestant temple history spanning 1608, 1684, and 1822.

Dijon

Dijon, capital of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France; 162,650 inhabitants, UNESCO-listed historic centre within the Climats vineyard site, ducal palace, mustard and crème de cassis gastronomy, and TGV links under two hours from Paris.

Dole

Dole, anciently Dola, is a town in the Jura department of eastern France on the Doubs, capital of Franche-Comté until 1674 and the birthplace of Louis Pasteur.

Donzère

Donzère is a commune in the Drôme department of southeastern France, known for its archaeology, which includes Bronze Age caves, a Gallo-Roman winery, and a medieval castle.

Espinasse-Vozelle

Espinasse-Vozelle is a commune in the Allier department of central France, about 5 km southwest of Vichy. It was formed in 1829 by merging the communes Espinasse and Vozelle, and had 995 inhabitants in 2023.

Franclens

Franclens is a French commune in the department of Haute-Savoie on the plateau de la Semine, known for underground quarries that supplied Roman Lyon with white building stone.

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France and the prefecture of the Isère department, set in an Alpine valley and known as the "capital of the Alps." It hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics.

Hauteville-Lompnes

Hauteville-Lompnes is a town in the Ain department of eastern France, formed in 1942 by merging the villages of Hauteville and Lompnes and known for its tuberculosis sanatoriums and limestone quarries.

Jonvelle

Jonvelle, commune in Haute-Saône, France, in a double meander of the Saône; known for a Gallo-Roman villa with bath complex (Monument Historique), a tile workshop, and a medieval priory and castle.

La Bauche

La Bauche: a commune of 6.58 km² in Savoie, France (73360), near Saint-Franc and Attignat-Oncin; distinct from a Vergezac hamlet and a Saintes archaeological site of the same name.

La Boisse

La Boisse is a commune in the Ain department, France, about 20 km northeast of Lyon on the right bank of the Rhône. It is known for the Gallo-Roman villa des Vernes, excavated in 1980 and 2005-2006, and for its church attested since 984.

La Côte-St-André

La Côte-Saint-André (La Côte-St-André) is a commune in Isère, France, a Savoyard planned new town of the late 13th century with France's largest timber-covered medieval hall (76 × 29 m), the Château Louis XI, and the 1888 Bronze Age char find at Le Rival; birthplace of Hector Berlioz.

Laprugne

Laprugne, commune in Allier (INSEE 03139), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, in the Montagne bourbonnaise near Vichy; site of the Charrier copper-tin mine (1872-1953) where roquesite was discovered, and uranium-era housing.