Château de Montfort

Château de Montfort stands in La Colle-sur-Loup, France, and was built by the medieval feudal society that controlled the area.

The estate dates back to the 1200s when it functioned as a feudal stronghold. In 1230 the property belonged to Romée de Villeneuve, who served as grand seneschal of Provence. This early phase establishes the site within the network of noble holdings that governed local territory in the later Middle Ages.

In 1501 Jean-Antoine II de Lascaris, count of Tende and Vintimille, acquired the property and granted it as a dowry to his daughter Anne Lascaris upon her marriage to René de Savoie, known as the Grand Bastard of Savoy, count of Villars. René de Savoie had been legitimized in 1499 by his half-brother Philibert II, an act that was later contested after Philibert remarried Marguerite of Austria. René subsequently lost some Piedmontese fiefs following a trial, while he kept the counties of Tende and Villars and performed homage to King Louis XII in 1509; these events framed his standing as a noble proprietor in the region.

René rebuilt the residence in the early 1500s to serve as a hunting relay, and his arms were placed at the main entrance. A plaque at the doorway marks a hunting meeting dated 1523. The castle passed to his son Claude de Savoie (1507–1566), who in 1538 hosted King François I there during discussions connected to the peace of Nice.

Over the centuries the building was preserved and enlarged. The French state listed the site as a protected historic monument by decree on 26 December 1969. In the late 20th century the property belonged to industrialist Gustave Ecrepont; in 1995 watchmaker Séverin Wunderman acquired the house, carried out a program of renovation and transformation, exhibited a collection of works by Jean Cocteau across the castle’s rooms, had an artist-designed swimming pool installed, and later donated part of that collection to the Musée Jean-Cocteau — Collection Séverin Wunderman in Menton.