I have a friend who lives in France just across the border from Geneva, Switzerland.  I've convinced him to plant a fig tree in his yard and he asked what varieties I would recommend.  His zone appears to on the border between 6 and 7.  I will suggest that he contact local nurseries such as Baud to get advice on varieties.  But in addition to that does anyone have any experience with figs varieties that do well in France?  Are there any other nurseries that I could recommend to him for figs?  I guess the obvious choice would be the winter hardy French varieties that we know and love here in the states. If there any French members of the forum out there I would like to hear from you.

Cheers,
Steve

See the "Best figs at your location" thread at the top of the forum, and see what has been recommended for similar zones.

Jon, I thought of that but I guess the question is to what degree my friend could find the varieties that do well in cooler areas of the USA.  For example, I thought of suggesting Marseilles vs Black to him but I'm not sure what it would be called in France - Marseilles Black?  I did noticed Hardy Chicago listed by one French nursery though.

http://www.fig-baud.com/choixfiguiers.html

This may give him a good idea based on what Baud has, I believe he will selling trees soon.

It may be a good idea to avoid having plants or cuttings from North America to there just because there seems to be better varieties there that are devoid of FMV or to a much lesser extent than over here.  Just a thought.

My suggestion, not based on experience but opinions I have read, Doree and Ronde de Bordeaux are the two that come to mind for me.

Nero 600M,from Planet Fig,and Ronde de Bordeaux from same nursery are doing great here in NJ.
Great cultivars both are strong growers and cold hardy as the nursery is at 600 meter altitude sub alpine climate.

Chivas and Herman - thanks for the suggestions, I'll pass them on.  Coincidentally, I ran across the planetfig website earlier today.  There is a lot of relevant information there because the person who runs the website (Marcello Finocchiaro) lives very close to my friend i.e. close to Geneva on the French side of the border.

Also there may be many varieties there not available in the USA and viceversa. it may depend also on personal taste. I was not impressed by Black Mission, I  liked Petit Negronne, but I appear to like better green figs with red pulp and crunchy seeds and fig flavor. Seems that here in the USA the dark ones with berry jam flavor and sweetness are the most popular. Maybe your friend could try 2 different varieties. Also I think the weather near Geneva might be relatively mild because of the lake and maybe the mountains protect it from the wind. It is not far from Torino Italy, although I wonder if being on the other side of the Alps may make a big difference ( Torino has foggy, humid winters with snowfalls.

Stefano, I lived one year in Geneva and the winter seemed fairly mild by my midwestern standards.  However, my friend did mention that where he lives it got down to -18 deg. C (0 deg F) at one point last winter.  So it will probably be necessary to protect young fig trees the first couple of years.  Of course it makes sense to me to plant two different types of figs!  Whether my friend agrees or has the space I don't know but I'll mention it to him.