Romans-sur-Isère is a commune in the Drômedepartment in southeastern France. Romans-sur-Isère is located on the Isère, 20 km (12 mi) northeast of Valence. There are more than 50,000 inhabitants in the urban area (if the neighboring town of Bourg-de-Péage is included). Romans is close to the Vercors.
Historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie wrote Carnaval de Romans (1980) a microhistorical study, based on the only two surviving eyewitness accounts, of the 1580 massacre of about twenty artisans at the annual carnival in the town. He treats the massacre as a microcosm of the political, social and religious conflicts of rural society in the latter half of the 16th century in France.
Romans is known in France as the place of origin of the Lunettes de Romans, an oval biscuit biscuit. It consists of two halves of shortcrust pastry baked on top of each other with two adjacent, round jelly fillings (for example raspberry, apricot, strawberry or blueberry). The name refers to the shape of the pastry (French: lunettes = glasses).
A second specialty of Romans are the ravioles de Romans, which have been a protected regional designation of origin (appellation d’origine) since 1989 as Ravioles du Dauphiné. Ravioli are produced by numerous large and small businesses in the region and are conspicuously present in the cityscape of Romans due to the many billboards in front of the grocery stores. Both specialties are traced back to immigrants from the Italian region of Piedmont, who settled in the Dauphiné in the early High Middle Ages.
The third specialty is a cake made from yeast dough, called Pogne de Romans, whose special taste is brought about by the addition of orange blossom water. Originally the Pogne was a yeast wreath only baked for Easter.
