| Puycelsi | |
| Commune Status: | Commune |
| Image Coat Of Arms: | Blason ville fr Puycelci (Tarn).svg |
| Arrondissement: | Albi |
| Canton: | Vignobles et Bastides |
| Insee: | 81217 |
| Postal Code: | 81140 |
| Mayor: | Jacques Vigouroux[1] |
| Term: | 2022 - 2026 |
| Intercommunality: | CA Gaillac-Graulhet |
| Coordinates: | 43.9939°N 1.7108°W |
| Elevation M: | 280 |
| Elevation Min M: | 132 |
| Elevation Max M: | 367 |
| Area Km2: | 39.2 |
Puycelsi (in French pronounced as /pɥisɛlsi/, before 2011: Puycelci; Occitan (post 1500);: Puègcèlsi)[2] is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.
It is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France ("The Most Beautiful Villages of France") association. It had 449 inhabitants in 2017.
The name of "Puycelci", or "Puycelsi" comes from the Celtic "Celto Dun", a wooden fortress built on a hill, or oppidum, later transformed into "Podium Celsium" by the Romans.
The village itself was founded in a location close to the ancient prehistoric site by Benedictine Monks from the Aurillac Abbey in the 10th century. It stands high above the right bank of the Vère, which flows northwestward through the commune.
The first castle was dismantled after the Treaty of Meaux-Paris, in 1229, but the village remained a stronghold. Though it was besieged several times in the 13th and 14th centuries, it was reportedly never taken by force.
Until the First World War, the village was quite prosperous, with a population of nearly 2,000 in 1830. Almost abandoned in the 1950s, it has since been restored by its inhabitants and is now listed among the “Most Beautiful Villages of France”.
Puycelsi is featured in the 2016 BBC/France Télévisions wildlife film Wild Tales from the Village.