Gautier Rosso, new director of the Château de Bonaguil: “Give visibility to this site”

Gautier Rosso strolls through the Château de Bonaguil as if he’s been working there for years. Yet, it has only been two weeks since he was officially named director of the most visited historic site in the Lot-et-Garonne. After fifteen years at the Greater Villeneuvois Tourist Office, the 30-year-old, who has studied history, art history and heritage, wanted to work in a monument like this. So this opportunity was a boon for the Villeneuvois. Interview.

You took up your duties as director of the Château de Bonaguil on 1 March. How are your first weeks on the site going?

I got my bearings pretty fast. It goes without saying for me to work at the Château de Bonaguil. It completely corresponds to my aspirations. It feels like I’ve been working on the site for months even though I arrived a fortnight ago.

Patrick Arassus, the former director who left his post in September 2022 after 17 years at Bonaguil, must also help you a lot in your first steps…

Patrick Arassus accompanies me a lot so that the transition goes smoothly. We work very well together. In 2006 I did a summer season at the Château de Bonaguil and he was already the director. We have been in contact all this time and we get along very well. And then Patrick and I will be colleagues since he took over the reins of Maison France services de Fumel. Then the exchange will be easy.

What are the files you had to work on in priority?

We are already starting to prepare for the summer season, which is the most important for Bonaguil. I’ve assembled the seasonal team for this summer and set up activities for spring break. And there, I will attack the programming of those of the summer period.

And in the long run, what will be the areas of development you will focus on?

I already want to do a full season to fully master how the place works. It will be a kind of audit phase. So, my job will be to set up a marketing strategy around the Bonaguil castle. Subsequently, we will have to adapt our communication tools, especially our website, to this strategy. To summarize, the refurbishment and security phase and the animation development phase have been done by my predecessors. My work will really be focused on communication around the site. The heart of the project is to restore its visibility.

How exactly will you go about developing the visibility of Château de Bonaguil?

If we want to highlight the entire history of the castle, we will eventually have to position ourselves in a historical and strategic niche. This could help create a “Château de Bonaguil” brand that we could promote everywhere. I am familiar with the tourist office environment from my long stay at the one in Grand Villeneuvois and would like to start there. I clearly want anyone inquiring about a visit to hear about Bonaguil. We will also try to look more towards Occitania and the Lot, which is a few hundred meters away from us. It will also be necessary to develop Bonaguil’s image nationwide.