February is officially Violet Month in Toulouse and it’s a great time to visit for a Valentine’s Day treat says Jane Gifford
La Fête de la Violette
Toulouse is most famous for its own species of scented violet. Once many small family concerns grew Toulouse Violets on land to the north of the city. Tied by red string into highly fragrant balls, they were sold by young girls on the city streets of Europe. The Victorians were crazy for them. Over 600,000 posies were sent every year to northern markets - Paris, London, Russia, even as far afield as Canada. Then fashions changed and the craze for violets faded and today the violet business has undergone an imaginative transformation.
The Fête de la Violette takes place on the first weekend of February on Place du Capitole, the impressive centre-piece of Toulouse. There is a market here every
day except Monday but on this particular weekend, it is devoted to violets. There are scented goodies and potted plants for sale. You can sample free candies, violet macaroons and delicious breads stuffed with crystallised flowers. At the display of violets from around the world, they give away free baby violets to all visitors. Violet cocktails and liqueurs by Benoit Serres (a family business since 1841) are on offer. And, if it all gets too much, free head and hand massages with violet and pastel lotions are available. L’Académie du Pastel are demonstrate woad-dyeing, children paint at easels, while an elegant lady in a long green robe with a quilted violet-petal stole and a violet straw-boater judges the stalls.
This all takes place in front of the wide pink sweep of the Capitolium. With grand
colonnades and statues above and