maps

a new page was added => link above – next to the home and about sections – with maps of the region. Relevant regional maps will be added peu à peu.

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aix

If you try to understand the ”bourgeois” way of life in Provence, you should visit the surroundings of Aix-en-Provence, where huge bastides can be found. The bigger ones would be called castles anywhere else : they were both holiday and agricultural domains, and where occuped in the summer time by wealthy families from Aix and Marseille, when the heat became oppressive…
[picture: château de [...]

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celebrities

A few bastides have become famous and have contributed to the international popularity of Provence and its way of life.
Among them, the Château la Canorgue [picture below] in Bonnieux,  main setting of the film A Good Year (2006) by Ridley Scott and the Bastide Neuve in La Treille, setting of the novel La Gloire de mon Père [...]

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génoise

Proof of the wealthiness of its owners, the bastide is often decorated with typical architectural elements. One of the most characteristic ones is the so-called “génoise”, a double roof in cooked tiles that appears at the roofs border. The trend dates back the middle of the 17th century and came originally from Italy.
[picture via]

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definition

A bastide is a local name for a manor house in Provence, in the south of France, located in the countryside or in a village, and originally occupied by a wealthy farmer. It was larger and more elegant than a mas.
[via]

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