Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region
Departments: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, Vaucluse.
Population: 5.2 million inhabitants.
Prefecture: Marseille
Area: 31,400 km²
Specialities: Mediterranean cuisine, pizza, pissaladière, panisses, chichis, bouillabaisse, petits farcis (stuffed vegetable), alouette sans tête (beef rolls), pieds et paquets marseillais (mutton feet and stuffings), salade niçoise, pan bagnat (tuna sandwich), gardiane de taureau (bull’s stew), sea urchins, fish (sea bream, sea bass, red mullet, dentex, marbled seabream, pageots, pagres, sars), wines (rosés from Provence, Côtes de Provence, Côtes du Rhône, Palette, Bandol, etc.)
Sports clubs: Olympique Marseille, OGC Nice (football), Rugby Club Toulon. Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille (swimming).
Competitions: 2024 Olympic Games, football World Cups, Euro 2016 football, Rugby World Cup, rugby test matches, Tour de France cycling race, Paris-Nice, GP La Marseillaise, Classique Haribo, Tour du Haut-Var, Tour de la Provence, beach volleyball, beach football, rugby in Toulon. World pétanque championship in Marseille.
Tourist attractions: beaches and seaside resorts (Saint-Tropez, Nice, Saint-Raphaël, Fréjus, Cassis, Bandol, etc.), Palais des Papes in Avignon, Arles (arenas, Roman ruins), Marseille (Old Port, Panier, calanques, Château d'If, Mucem), Nice (Promenade des Anglais, Old Nice, Old Port), Mont Ventoux, Cannes, ski resorts in the Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-Maritimes (Serre-Chevalier, Le Sauze, Orcières-Merlette, Isola 2000), Briançon (citadel), Aix-en-Provence.
Economy: 7 pc of French GDP, 3rd largest region in France,16th largest in Europe. Agriculture (wine and market gardening), services (80 pc), universities (Aix-Marseille, France's leading university, Nice, Toulon), ports (Marseille, La Ciotat, Nice), petrochemicals (Fos), logistics, Nice and Marseille airports, tourism.
Festivals: Cannes Film Festival, Avignon Festival (theatre), Chorégies d'Orange, Aix-en-Provence Festival (opera), Jazz à Nice, Festival de Marseille (dance). Midem (Cannes), Marsatac (Marseille), Fiesta des Suds (Marseille), Plages électroniques (Cannes), Rencontres d'Arles (photography).
Websites and social media: www.maregionsud.fr
ALPES-MARITIMES (06)
Prefecture: Nice
Sub-prefecture: Grasse
Population: 1,103,941
Area: 4,299 km²
Specialities: pissaladière, fougasse, socca, brissaouda, tapenade, salade niçoise, pan bagnat, porchetta niçoise, trulle, ratatouille, daube niçoise, bellet (wine)
Economy: tourism (64,000 jobs), France's second largest airport, perfumery in Grasse, new technologies in Sophia-Antipolis, Cannes-Mandelieu space centre.
Sport: OGC Nice, AS Cannes (football). Olympique Antibes (basketball). Olympic Nice Natation. Paris-Nice cycling race, Ironman Nice. Monte Carlo Rally. Nice Open.
Culture and heritage: Cannes Film Festival, Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, Nice Carnival, Mouans-Sartoux Book Festival. Promenade des Anglais in Nice, Croisette in Cannes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Matisse Museum, Maeght Foundation, perfumery in Grasse, Lérins Islands, Mercantour National Park.
Websites and social media: www.departement06.fr
Km 7.7
Km 7.7 – Col d'Èze (507 m)
Ridden seven times in the men’s Tour de France between 1919 and 2024, the Col d'Èze has truly become a cycling classic thanks to Paris-Nice, as the Race to the Sun has passed through it 49 times, mostly for a hill climb time trial that has often proved decisive. The greatest riders have won on the climb: Eddy Merckx, Raymond Poulidor, Joop Zoetemelk, Stephen Roche, Sean Kelly, Bradley Wiggins and Richie Porte, the last winner at the summit in 2015. It is logical that Sean Kelly, the record holder for victories in Paris-Nice, has won the most times at the Col d'Èze, with five victories. Britain's Bradley Wiggins holds the record for the climb in 19'12". The last rider to win at the summit, but not in Paris-Nice, was Nairo Quintana in 2019 in the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes.
Km 10.1
Km 10.1 – Èze (Pop. 2,240)
"There is nowhere else so exotic, so unusual, so suspended in the void..." wrote Jean Cocteau about Èze. The poet is just one of many celebrities to have appreciated this fortified village perched above Nice. The Nietzsche Trail, starting from the seaside, winds its way up a steep slope to the hilltop village. It is said that Nietzsche, who lived in Nice at the end of his life while ill, frequented this path and was inspired by it to write the third part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Comedian Francis Blanche also had a house in Eze and is buried there. Novelist Maurice Blanchot and Bono, the singer of U2, are among other celebrities who have lived in Èze.
The ruins of the castle, sheltered by a beautiful exotic garden, recall the history of the village: as early as the Iron Age around 220 BC, the local population took refuge on the rock of Èze. A few fragments of cyclopean walls in the village bear witness to this early occupation. The castle was built in the second half of the 12th century by the d'Eze family. To guard it, the Counts of Provence and then the Dukes of Savoy relied on valiant and experienced officers called Castellans. The garden and its ruins are still worth a visit. So is the village's neoclassical church: built in the 18th century on the foundations of a 12th-century church, it is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption.
Church of Our Lady of the AssumptionConstruction: 18th century.
History: The church was rebuilt to replace the previous one, which was falling into ruin, between 1764 and 1778 by the Italian architect Antoine Spinelli at the request of Duke Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy. It was consecrated on 17 May 1779. The bell tower was built in the 19th century. It was struck by lightning several times, destroying the original dome. The classical appearance of the church's façade contrasts with its Baroque interior.
Characteristics: the ochre façade is neoclassical in style with an ox-eye window and double Greek Corinthian pilasters, flanked by a two-storey square bell tower.
A single Baroque-style nave is flanked by side chapels. It has a rich interior decoration.
Listed as: historic monument in 1984.
Km 16.1
Km 16.1 – Villefranche-sur-Mer (Pop. 5,000)
Formerly a military port belonging to the House of Savoy, which had no other access to the sea before the port of Nice was built, Villefranche-sur-Mer has retained a level of expertise that is highly prized by lovers of nautical heritage. Today, the town is a renowned seaside resort where many celebrities live or have lived. Rock stars Elton John and Tina Turner have lived here, while the Rolling Stones recorded their most famous album, Exile on Main Street, here.
The town has preserved an important civil and religious heritage from its past. The Saint-Elme citadel, built in the 16th century by Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy, now houses the town hall, as well as museums dedicated to sculptor Antoniucci Volti, the paintings of the Goetz-Bousmeester collection, the ceramics of the Roux collection and the memory of the 24th Battalion of Alpine Hunters. Other places of interest in Villefranche include the port of La Darse and Rue Obscure, a 130-metre covered street dating from 1260. The religious heritage is dominated by the Church of Saint-Michel, built in the 14th century and remodeled in the Savoyard Baroque style in the 18th century, and the pretty Chapel of Saint-Pierre, with frescoes by Jean Cocteau. The municipality is also home to Villa Leopolda, built in the early 20th century for Leopold II of Belgium and sometimes described as the most expensive villa in the world.
Citadel of Saint-ElmeConstruction: 16th century.
History: the citadel of Villefranche is one of the earliest examples of bastioned fortifications in Europe. It seems that work began as early as 1550, at least on the part facing the sea. The date 1554 is engraved on the arch of the citadel's landing stage. The first phase of construction was carried out on the seaside because it was thought that this was where the main danger lay. The project was boosted by the victory at Saint-Quentin in 1557 and the spoils taken from the French, then by the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, which involved a significant tribute conceded by Henry II. Two men played a major role in the construction of the citadel: André Provana de Leyni, advisor and confidant to the young Duke of Savoy, and Benedetto Ala, engineer and architect, the main architect of the citadel's construction. The citadel was an undeniable architectural success. But strategically, this formidable deterrent proved insufficient. On several occasions, in 1691, 1744, 1747 and 1792, the Saint-Elme citadel surrendered almost immediately to the French armies.
Current use: a new town hall was inaugurated in 1981. Underneath the wedding hall, the former Saint-Elme chapel now houses exhibitions. The La Turbie bastion has been turned into a museum space. The casemates are now dominated by sculptures by Volti. The museums of Villefranche have been enriched with paintings (the Goetz-Boumeester donation in the former barracks building), ceramic figurines (the Roux collection) and souvenirs from the 24th Alpine Chasseurs Battalion. The open-air theatre, used for cinema, shows and festivities, has been renovated.
Listed as: historic monument in 1968.
Saint-Michel ChurchConstruction: 18th century.
Style: Baroque.
History: a first priory dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Pons is mentioned in the 13th century. After the founding of Villefranche in 1295, Charles d'Anjou accepted, in 1306, the inhabitants' request to build a church dedicated to Saint Michel. In the 18th century, the City Council decided to rebuild the medieval church, which had become too dilapidated. On 7 March 1732, the Bishop of Nice blessed the first stone. The church was completed in 1757.
Characteristics: the church is built on a Latin cross plan. The nave has two bays and is lit by oculi on either side of the nave. The nave is punctuated by twin pilasters detached from the piers, echoing the Tuscan order already used for the first level of the façade. Each of the pilasters in the nave supports the twin ribs of the nave vault and the arcades connecting to the side aisles. The décor is Baroque.
Listed as: historic monument in 1990.
