With the Middle Ages, the lords of Tours build a castle on an island in the medium of the Indre river to protect the passage from the road carrying out of Tours to Chinon. In 1119, the lord Ridel of Azay gives to the city his name of Azay le Rideau The current appearance of the castle of Azay le Rideau goes back to this formidable period of architectural creativity which was the beginning of the reign of François 1st. Until this period, the castle of Azay le Rideau had a defensive object and look like all the fortresses of the area: drawbridge and machicolation. Moreover its architecture returned the image of the power of the lord who was the Master of the place. The initial fortress was subjected to several events, and in particular the fire caused by Charles VII during the One hundred Year old war. To the end of XVth century, architecture and the decoration of the French residences seigneuriales will evolve. The builders are helped by Italian artists and the castle of Azay le Rideau is in this paramount evolution of our royal architecture. The Berthelot. With the end of XVth century, Martin Berthelot, "maître de la Chambre aux deniers" (a kind of Minister for Finance) of the king, buy the castle and bequeaths it to his son Gilles Berthelot who inherits this strengthened residence, little before the battle of Marignan (1515). Berthelot undertakes a flourishing career in Finance; he is Général finances of the kingdom then becomes "Trésorier" of France. It is friendly of the baron of Semblançay, itself general Gouverneur of finances. Gilles Berthelot begins the modifications from the building by expressing his passion for the Italian Renaissance. He makes build two other home with four turns which give to the old fortress her form in "L". This building inaugurates the era thus residences of pleasure which combine the attractiveness of the French castles with the majesty of the Italian palates. The architectural plan evolves thus around a vast luminous court. The water, which insulates the building, then takes a dominating place in the harmony of the unit. Gilles Berthelot preserves a certain continuity in the medieval tradition by keeping the turrets of angles and the covered way on the external walls, while yielding to the Italian influence by the symmetrical distribution of the openings which confer on the frontages a regular ordinance.