Hidden behind an unremarkable street facade on Rue Saint-Honoré, the Hôtel d'Alluye is one of the finest early Renaissance courtyards in France — built around 1500 for Florimond Robertet, treasurer to three French kings. The inner courtyard is a two-storey loggia with medallions, fluted pilasters, and a refined Italian sensibility that predates the better-known Renaissance work at the château by a decade.
Robertet was on diplomatic missions in Italy in 1499 and 1500, and the courtyard is partly his architectural souvenir of what he saw there. The building is now offices and only open on European Heritage Days (third weekend of September), but the timing is worth it. The Office de Tourisme can sometimes arrange small group visits at other times.