The Château Malromé is located in the commune Saint-André-du-Bois. The first recorded occurrence of the château and its vineyard dates from the 16th century by Étienne de Rostéguy de Lancre, a member of the Parliament of Bordeaux.
Towards 1780, the château passed to Catherine de Forcade, the widow of the Baron de Malromé, who renamed it in memory of her spouse.
In 1847, the château became the property of Adolphe de Forcade La Roquette, Vice-President of the Conseil d'État under Napoleon III, and his half-brother, Maréchal Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, governor of Paris and Minister of War. These two men had the château restored.
In 1883, the Countess Adèle de Toulouse-Lautrec acquired the building, attracted by its proximity to Verdelais, a nearby shrine and place of pilgrimage.
Her son, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, often visited the château. It was here that he died, on 9 September 1901.
The vineyard of Malromé, which covers a surface area of around forty hectares, is situated on slopes of gravelly clay. Its soil has been renowned over the centuries.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.