Vieux Lyon
Renaissance quarter of narrow stone lanes once home to Europe's richest banking families.
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About this audio guide
This guide to Vieux Lyon walks through the neighborhood's Renaissance-era rise as a banking capital, centered on the merchant family Gadagne. It follows Thomas de Gadagne, a Florentine-style financier who built his fortune lending to kings and financing trade fairs that drew merchants from Florence, Lucca and Augsburg to these streets. You'll hear how a royal grant of tax-free fairs turned this quarter into a magnet for foreign money, and where the Gadagne name still marks a house nearby. Listen as you walk the narrow lanes stacked along the Saone, once the address of Europe's richest bankers.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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