50 Fun Facts About Provence

Which sea borders Provence to the south?

The region stretches from the lower Rhône in the west to the Italian border in the east.

Besides being the capital of Provence, Marseille holds which distinction among French cities?

Greek settlers from Phocaea founded it around 600 BC, making it one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited places.

Where does the name Provence come from?

It was Rome's first province beyond the Alps, and "the province" simply stuck as the region's name.

Greek colonists from which city founded Massalia, now Marseille, around 600 BC?

A second wave arrived around 540 BC when the Persians destroyed Phocaea, on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor.

Which Massalian navigator sailed to Iceland around 330 BC and first described the midnight sun?

He also worked out that the tides were linked to the phases of the moon and was the first scientist to describe drift ice.

Aquae Sextiae, founded by the Romans in 122 BC, is which modern town?

It was the capital of the counts of Provence until 1481, and Cézanne was born there in 1839.

Which Roman general defeated the Cimbri and Teutons in 102 BC, ending resistance in Provence?

He then built roads inland to Apt and Tarascon and along the coast from Italy to Spain.

The Pont du Gard aqueduct bridge carried water to which Roman city?

Its three tiers of limestone arches rise 48.8 metres, and it later survived as a toll bridge.

How is the entrance to the painted Cosquer Cave near Marseille, found in 1985, reached?

The Cosquer Cave in the Calanque de Morgiou shows bison, seals, auks, horses and outlines of human hands.

The traditional coat of arms of Provence, four red bars on gold, dates from rule by which dynasty?

Douce I married Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona in 1112, and Aragonese counts ruled until 1246.

Which pope moved the Curia to Avignon in 1309?

Seven popes reigned in Avignon until 1377, then three antipopes stayed on until 1423.

How many popes reigned in Avignon between 1309 and 1377?

The Palais des Papes they built became the largest Gothic palace in Europe.

What distinction does the Palais des Papes in Avignon hold?

It is really two palaces: Benedict XII's austere old palace and Clement VI's extravagant new one.

"Good King René", remembered as the last ruler of Provence, was also king of what?

He only lived in Provence for the last ten years of his life, and on his nephew's death in 1481 the county passed to Louis XI.

In what year was Provence legally incorporated into the French royal domain?

The Comtat Venaissin around Avignon stayed papal until the Revolution, and Orange remained a Dutch principality until 1673.

Which Dutch royal house took its name from a principality inside Provence?

William the Silent inherited the Principality of Orange, which Louis XIV finally annexed in 1673.

Roughly how many people died in the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720 to 1722?

By the end of that century Marseille had recovered to 120,000 people, the third-largest city in France.

Why is the French national anthem called La Marseillaise?

The song was actually written on the Rhine; the Marseille battalion carried it to the capital in 1792.

Which young artillery commander drove the British out of Provence's great naval port in December 1793?

The city was punished by being renamed Port la Montagne, while Marseille briefly became the "City without a Name".

In which year did Nice and Savoy become part of France?

Napoleon III received them from Piedmont in return for helping to expel Austria from Italy.

What is the name of the cold, dry wind that blows down the Rhône Valley?

It blows about a hundred days a year in Marseille and clears the dust from the air, giving Provence the light painters love.

What is the highest peak in Provence outside the Maritime Alps, at 1,909 metres?

Its bare white limestone summit makes it look snow-capped all year; Petrarch described climbing it in 1336.

Which mountain near Aix did Paul Cézanne paint again and again?

He could see the limestone ridge from his home; Matisse and Picasso both called him the father of them all.

The Camargue, western Europe's largest river delta, is formed by which river?

Its brine lagoons are one of the few European homes of the greater flamingo, and white Camargue horses roam the marshes.

What are the narrow rocky inlets between Marseille and Cassis called?

They are ancient river mouths deepened by glaciers and flooded when the sea rose after the last ice age.

Which Provençal river's 20 km, 300-metre-deep limestone gorge is nicknamed a "Grand Canyon"?

The 20-kilometre limestone canyon is a favourite of climbers and sightseers.

Which city is the sunniest in metropolitan France, with about 2,899 hours of sunshine a year?

It is also home to the naval base that Richelieu began and Vauban fortified.

What is the name of the low, aromatic scrubland typical of Provence's limestone soils?

Juniper, holm oak, lavender, sage, rosemary and wild thyme are its typical plants.

Vincent van Gogh lived in which Provençal town from February 1888 to May 1889?

He produced over 300 paintings and drawings there before moving to Saint-Rémy.

Where did Pablo Picasso spend his last years?

He summered on the Côte d'Azur every year from 1919 to 1939 and moved there for good in 1946.

Which Provençal poet, leader of the Félibrige revival, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904?

His long poem Mirèio inspired Gounod's opera Mireille.

Provençal is a dialect of which language?

Also called langue d'oc, it was widely spoken until the early 20th century; fewer than 500,000 people speak it regularly today.

Which Aubagne-born author of La Gloire de mon Père was the first filmmaker in the Académie Française?

His memoirs describe the running version of boules called jeu provençal that preceded pétanque.

Nostradamus was born in which Provençal town in 1503?

The apothecary and reputed seer lived and died in Salon-de-Provence, where his house is now a museum.

The Lumière brothers filmed their arriving train at which Provençal station?

The fifty-second film caused a sensation in Paris in December 1895, and La Ciotat's Eden Theatre still shows movies.

What is the classic seafood dish of Marseille?

The traditional version uses scorpionfish, sea robin and conger, and the broth is served separately over bread with rouille.

Which Provençal city gave the world ratatouille?

The name comes from Occitan and French verbs meaning "to stir" or "to toss".

What is tapenade made from?

It is spread on bread as an hors d'oeuvre; aïoli, by contrast, is a garlic-and-olive-oil emulsion.

How many desserts are served after the Provençal Christmas meal, one for Jesus and each apostle?

Each of the dishes has its own significance in the tradition.

What colour are the great majority of wines produced in Provence?

Mourvèdre is the signature grape of Bandol's reds, and Cassis is the only area known for whites.

Which Roman poet condemned the wines of Marseille as "terrible poisons"?

In 120 BC the Senate had even banned vines and olives in Provence to protect Italian exports.

Who first commercialised pastis, the anise apéritif of Marseille, in 1932?

It appeared 17 years after France banned absinthe; the name comes from the Occitan for a mash-up or blend.

Calissons, the almond-and-candied-melon sweets, are traditionally associated with which town?

Cavaillon is famous for melons instead, and Grasse for perfume.

In 1907 a jeu provençal champion who could no longer run up to throw created modern pétanque. What ailed him?

Jules Hugues's rules kept the feet together inside a circle, and the Provençal for "feet together" gave the game its name.

What is the small target ball in pétanque called?

Games are played to thirteen points, one-on-one or in teams of two or three.

The Château d'If off Marseille is famous as a setting of which novel?

Francis I ordered the fortress built in 1524, and it served as a prison until the end of the 19th century.

Which Marseille church, known locally as "la Bonne Mère", overlooks the old port?

The Romano-Byzantine basilica is the symbol of a city named European Capital of Culture in 2013.

Which Provençal Cistercian abbey near Gordes, founded in 1148, is famous for its lavender fields?

It was sold off at the Revolution and repurchased for a new community of monks in 1854.

Which Impressionist settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1907 and painted there until his death?

He bought a farm in the hills and built a new house and workshop on the grounds; the house is now a museum.

In which year was the Avignon Festival of theatre founded?

It was part of a post-war cultural renewal in Provence that also saw the Cannes Film Festival, begun in 1939, reopen.