Chitenay is located in the agricultural micro-region of Sologne viticole. The municipality is rural and heavily wooded; forests cover 27 percent of its area.
Anyone planning a stay in Chitenay may wish to rent a holiday apartment for this purpose.
Landscape and Regional Produce
Chitenay lies within the AOP area for Selles-sur-Cher goat's cheese. The municipality also belongs to the AOP areas for the wines Cheverny, Cour-Cheverny and Crémant de Loire.
Culture and History
The Church of Notre-Dame dates from the 14th century and is dedicated to Saint Denis. It houses a collection of 13 paintings entitled “Les douze Apôtres et le Christ”. This collection was registered as a protected object under protection order no. 7117 of 8 December 1977. Chitenay's hiking trails pass by the church, whose façade was rebuilt in the 16th century and bears traces from the 11th century.
The oldest written mention of Chitenay dates from 1144 and concerns the Ecclesia Castanea. The physicist Denis Papin was born in August 1647 at the Les Coudraies site in Chitenay, in his grandmother Jehanne Dufour's closerie.
The château was built around 1750; its side wing is older and was remodelled when the main building was constructed. Heritage protection covers the façades and roofs of the château and its outbuildings; the listing was made by decree of 13 September 1960. The privately owned Château de Malabry dates from the 17th century.
Trails and Places
The easy circular hiking trail “Découverte du vignoble de Chitenay” starts in Chitenay and is 8.2 kilometres long. Chitenay also has the circular trail “À la rencontre de Denis Papin”.
The “Circuit Vapeur Denis Papin” is open to the public on one weekend per month from May to September. It includes several miniature railway networks, including a route over 250 metres long with a 7¼-inch gauge, on which children can ride in a miniature TGV.
The Étang de la Roche de Chitenay is located in Chitenay.
More local pages: Champigny-En-Beauce, Prunay-Cassereau, Chaon, Valaire, Saint-Romain-Sur-Cher, Mer, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Amand-Longpré.
