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 [...]
Posts Tagged ‘bastide’
aix
Posted in break, history, villages, tagged aix, bastide, château, hotel, marseille, summer on March 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
génoise
Posted in decoration, history, tagged architecture, bastide, decoration, provence on March 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
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]
