Richard Assheton

Four million tourists visited the island last year but many of its 160,000 permanent residents cannot afford to rent or buy. Even a ruin went on sale for €2.1m

After President Ghazouani ended decades of turbulence, Mauritania has found natural gas and he’s extracting his price

A report into France’s €200m property portfolio in the Italian capital shows the tourist spot was built with French money in the 1720s — provoking a diplomatic row

To rid the French city of its scourge of 1.5 million rodents, modern-day rat-catchers are employing the Roman method

For centuries people have relied on family folklore and chemist expertise to pick the right variety.

Few people know the sea better than Guillaume Picard. He grew up on a boat moored in the port of Hyères in southern France after his parents left 1960s Paris.

In his fairytale home in Paris, the 74-year-old clown, returning to the UK with Slava’s Snowshow, explains why the world has never needed his kind more

Grandiose plans have put the ‘micronation’ of Laàs on the map — and led to claims of corruption and law-breaking

Gourmands are collectively paying thousands of euros for crockery and cutlery from the country’s finest restaurants

Josée Lecomte, 77, lives alone in the commune of La Bâtie-des-Fonds in the Alps. Her son is the mayor … although he’s two hours away