Weekend in Nîmes, the French Roma

It is one of those towns where you say hello to each other on the street, go to the market on Sundays and stroll along the canal in the late afternoon. TO Nîmes, in Languedoc, you can breathe an air of the South: the cobbled streets, the colored shutters, the fountains and, definitely, a relationship to the food of those who produce fruit, vegetables and good wine. If in the past it was an outpost of the Roman Empire, and we are proud to remember that money was also minted here, today Nîmes is synonymous with bullfighting, its fair is among the most important events in the world of bullfighting, and music concerts are heard in its classical amphitheater.

An immediate observation: the city is small, in the ancient center you can move on foot and with a short itinerary you can visit the main monuments. His Square House, which is nothing more than a Pantheon of the first century, stands square a few meters from the Halles, the covered market (of which a renovation project would be under consideration by the municipal council).

A covered market, “as it once was” says the guide, not very hipster and not very Instragram but still frequented by ladies with shopping trolleys, by those who take coffee and where the agricultural wealth of the region is appreciated. At the butchers’ counter you can find the petit paté nîmois, a rustic meat filling, and during the season, among the fruit and vegetables, the strawberry (from Nîmes) is DOC. Then just enter one of the paved alleys to reach theRoman amphitheater of the first century, beautifully preserved, and its modern Roman museum. This recent museum, inaugurated in 2018, has allowed the city to present the more than 5000 pieces of its ancient collection and above all to give a space to Penteus mosaic, found in perfect condition during excavations in 2007 and never exhibited before.

I tori, Hemingway & Gagnaire
Officially since 1952, the Feria di Nîmes falls on Pentecost, in May, and then in September, with the Feria delle Vendemmie. Bulls and bullfighters are the protagonists of the event: in the amphitheater you can watch the bullfight while in the historic center they parade through theabrivado or, during theconfinement, you run away from cattle that run free, as in the Basque country. During a week a busy calendar of events occupies the town, which claims bullfighting as its intrinsic genetic heritage.

Ernest Hemingway, a great lover of bullfighting, he knew it well. The American writer was a frequent visitor to the party and, like the bullfighters before him, stayed at L’Imperator, the grand hotel in Nîmes. In 2020, it is the bulls, once again, who have brought the star chef Pierre Gagnaire in Nîmes. And, like Hemingway, it’s in a brand new one L’commander reopened in 2019 by Maison Albar and remodeled by Marcello Joulia, who the French chef has settled.
Even if “let’s be clear: I’m not there during the feria, I want my freedom», precise. If he is not passing through the kitchen, where he instructed Nicolas Fontaine, his second who took away from Shanghai, he can be seen chatting in the hotel lounge overlooking the courtyard-garden and its gingko tree. The chef pays no attention to praise for the city he admires «the [loro] amazing food culture, [issuta] from a whole agricultural world between Provence and Camargue ».

And on the other hand, here Gagnaire plays to double. In the gourmet restaurant Elf where he signs the menus – creative and refined that clearly look for the stars (Michelin) – with his usual attention to desserts – “because they are as important as the salty” and with a precious selection of local labels, among which stands out the Roc d’Anglade, with rare bottles, by Rémy Pedreno. But also a bistro, The Impé, which puts the honor of regional specialties such as braised beef (beef stew) or the Cod brandade, the cod. An address, the latter, immediately adopted by the inhabitants, happy to be able to taste the cuisine of a starred chef at a (chic) ​​brasserie price.

Practical information:
Hotel L’Imperator (Maison Albar Hotels), double room from 250-350 € (low / high season).
L’Impé Bistrot by Pierre Gagnaire (Hôtel L’Imperator), menu € 30, € 45 and € 60