The Chateau de Gordes is located in the village centre.
For a thousand years , the castle crowns the village of Gordes. Guillaume d'Agoult , who was one of the earliest ancestors of the powerful feudal family who built fortifications in all the surrounding villages, have mentioned it in 1031. His successors reinforced its protection in 1123, it is called " Nobile Castrum ", the only well known among neighboring castles.
In the middle of the XIVth century, as elsewhere in Provence, the dungeon is enlarge to provide better defenses against incursions by Raymond de Turenne.
Besieged unsuccessfully during the wars of religion, it was the stronghold of the Marquis de Simiane, then the Dukes of Soubise , and the XVIIIth century the Princes of Condé.
The medieval castle was rebuilt between 1525 and 1541 in the own style in the Renaissance under the aegis of Bertrand de Simiane. Since then, the castle has two faces : a very strong aspect of the castle north side and south side of the Renaissance facade.
The imposing building is heavily defended by large round towers which support a crown of battlements terrace artillery, high walls were pierced with three floors of windows "renaissance " is also noticed on the walls, towers and watchtowers, the openings of the guns properly distributed .
The south facade of the castle opens to the sun facing the old town, behind the fountain, an arched door in the wall opens onto a courtyard with magnificent staircase leading to the building.
During the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries, the castle seems to have been no major changes, its owners living away, merely to collecting revenue from the manor.
About 1789, the revolutionaries seized the castle but do not destroy it.
The castle was once an integral part of village life , with the opening of a café on the ground street since closed.
The castle becomes historical monument on July 4th, 1931 and its round tower on October 28th, 1949 .
The famous artist Victor Vasarely restored the castle in the sixties
http://uk.rosier.pro/details-the+castle+of+gordes-2099.html

Château de Gordes

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The Sade Family Château: 
This stunning building towers over the village, the Sorgues plain, Luberon and Alpilles in the distance. The 12th century fortified château of Saumane de Vaucluse was transformed into a veritable bastion in the 15th century. Its mazelike architecture was added to during various periods and you’ll find secret corridors and dungeons which surely sparked the young Marquis de Sade’s imagination.
Donatien Alphonse François de Sadz, a.k.a. the Marquis de Sade, lived in this château from the age of 5 to 10. 
There are other fascinating parts of the château: a dining room with a twin calotte-shaped vaulted ceiling whose acoustics are such that a person standing in one corner can hear what someone in the opposite corner is whispering. According to an agreement between Monsieur de Sade and his farmer, mass on Saturdays and midnight mass were taken in the untouched little Sainte Rose Chapel...
The château’s Orangeraie is adorned with sculpted lion’s heads. The building is still stunning despite undergoing renovation on several occasions to suit the period and the lords’ wishes. It still has its medieval soul, Renaissance charm and 18th century imagination. 
The château remained in the Sade Family until 1868 when it was sold to the Mayor of Saumane then bought by the Croset Family in 1872. Vaucluse Council bought it in 1982 and entrusted it to the Communauté de Communes du Pays des Sorgues et des Monts de Vaucluse on a 40 year lease.
http://www.oti-delasorgue.co.uk/detail/70b48e5f2d51dd1b78508e13a59a52f4/329277

Château de Saumane

The Château de Lacoste or La Coste is a ruined castle in the commune of Lacoste in the Vaucluse département of France.
Location
The castle is sited on an extension of the northern flank of the Little Luberon on which the village stands. This position offers its occupants superb views over the valley of the Calavon, the Monts de Vaucluse, Mont Ventoux and the Alps, as well as the village of Bonnieux which can be seen on a neighbouring hill.
History
The castle's origins are in the 11th century, but it was largely modified in subsequent centuries.
It was for many years the property of the Simiane family.
Two hypotheses are suggested for the transfer of the castle from the Simianes to the Sades.
In 1627, Diane Simiane married Jean-Baptiste de Sade, ancestor of the Marquis de Sade, who thus became owner of the estate.
In 1716, Isabelle Simiane bequeathed the castle to her cousin Gaspard François de Sade, Lord of Saumane and Mazan. This latter hypothesis is the most probable.
The Marquis de Sade stayed there from 1769 to 1772, between the scandals at Arcueil and Marseille, then after the latter and his flight to Italy, he took refuge there until his incarceration in the Château de Vincennes in 1777. Escaping while being transferred to Aix, he took refuge there for the last time from 16 July to 7 September 1778 before being returned to Vincennes.
It was in 1772 that he made his longest stay there, during which he built in the castle a theatre capable of holding 120 spectators. Throughout his internments, he maintained an extraordinary attachment (un attachement extraordinaire) for La Coste.
During the French Revolution, the castle was vandalised and largely destroyed. The construction materials were sold.
Crippled with debts, in year IV of the Republic (1796) the castle and its estate were sold to Rovère, deputy of Vaucluse and a native of Bonnieux, who, a victim of the Coup of 18 Fructidor, was deported to French Guiana where he died at Sinnamary in 1798.
In 1952, André Bouer, college teacher, became the owner and dedicated himself to the castle's restoration.
In 2001, Pierre Cardin bought the castle. His second residence, the castle is being renovated. In summer each year, he organises a musical artistic festival in the quarries to the west of the castle.
The castle in art
De Sade described his castle in two of his works – La Marquise de Ganges and Les cent vingt journées de Sodome (The 120 Days of Sodom) – under the name of the Château de Silling.
The castle is used as a backdrop in the comic Dick Herisson, by Didier Savard. In the album Le Vampier the castle is the centre of a proto-Nazi plan to purify the Aryan race. At the end, the vilain is smashed to death against the walls of the building as he tries to escape an angry mob.
Ancient monument
The castle has been listed since 1992 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. Protection covers the castle itself, the courtyards and the dry moats.

Château de Lacoste (Vaucluse)

In the surrounding countryside, Thouzon Hill, two kilometres from Le Thor and occupied since Neolithic times, rises above the plain. At the top of the hill, the ruins of the fortified Benedictine priory of Thouzon, often called the “Château de Thouzon” still stand and includes two Romanesque chapels dedicated to St. Mary and St. Peter. From this vantage point there is an exceptional view of the Monts de Vaucluse and Mont Ventoux. At the foot of the hill, discover the fabulous Thouzon caves, discovered in 1902, the only horizontal network in the area — most subterranean passages here are vertical. They are specially adapted for tourist visits.
The Parc des Estourans is the place to learn about the Canal du Moulin, now commonly called the “Sorgue des Moulins”, this canal was dug in 1404 to supply Le Thor with water. It starts at Notre Dame and irrigates land between the canal and the grand Sorgue, which it connects to on the South-Eastern side of the Château de Courtet.
Where the park is today, and until not so long ago, the mill still stood, providing drinking water to Le Thor via the water tower which is still in place. It wasn't until 1922 that the water pipe network was installed at St Roch on the road to Velleron.
http://www.oti-delasorgue.co.uk

Château de Thouzon

The Château de Lourmarin is a converted castle located in the town of Lourmarin which is situated in the Vaucluse département, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of France.
Originally a 12th-century fortress, it was transformed in the 15th century by Foulques d'Agoult, chamberlain of King Rene I. of Anjou. After 1526 the castle belonged to Louis d’Agoult-Montauban and his wife Blanche de Lévis-Ventadour and the new annex made the building the first Renaissance building in the Provence Region.
Afterwards the castle became the residence of the Créqui-Lesdiguières family, who were the lords of Château de La Tour d'Aigues. Despite owning the castle, they never took residence in it, and this state of affairs continued until the beginning of the French Revolution.
After the Revolution, and despite having two more owners, the castle slowly descended into ruins.
Finally, in 1920, Robert Laurent-Vibert, a producer of cosmetics, bought the ruined castle and employed the architect Henri Pacon to restore it. In 1925, Laurent-Vibert died in a car accident. In his will he donated the castle to the Académie des Sciences, Agriculture, Arts et Belles Lettres under condition that it should be transformed into a trust, which would support young artists.