L'Arbresle is located in the Rhone department, about twenty kilometers from Lyon, at the junction of the mountains of Lyonnais and Beaujolais. This commune of more than 6,300 inhabitants is bordering Saint-Germain-Nuelles, Eveux or Sain-Bel.
Very old, the town of L'Arbresle is part of the vineyards of Beaujolais. On its territory, there are two appellations viticoles: Beaujolais and Coteaux du Lyonnais.
If lovers of good wines will be delighted by their stay at L'Arbresle, this will also be the case of lovers of history and old stones because the city does not lack monuments.
Heir to the Roman road linking Lyon to Roanne, the national 7 crosses L'Arbresle, a step fortified in the eleventh century by the monks of Savigny, whose city defended the abbey. If the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church is remarkable for its 16th century stained glass windows, it is the textile industrial adventure that has marked the contemporary city. The canuts of the countryside wove silk velvet in the 19th and 20th centuries, competing with the Lyonnais workshops. And it is a local child, Barthélemy Thimonnier, tailor of his condition, who invented between 1830 and 1845 the first sewing machine, thus paving the way for the modern garment industry.
