Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Provence Living
A Question of Identité
In a part of the country where foreigners have always come, gone and invariably stayed, re-
gional identity is not clear cut.
Young, old or salt-and-pepper-haired in
between, people do share a staunch loyalty to
the hamlet, village, town or city in which they
live. People in Marseille have a particularly pas-
sionate attachment to their city, a port known for
its stereotyped rough-and-tumble inhabitants
who are famed among the French for their exag-
gerations and imaginative fancies, such as the
tale about the sardine that blocked Marseille
The list of Provence-Côte d'Azur's most famous
residents is long and always shifting. Angelina Jolie
and Brad Pitt own Château de Miraval in Correns;
the Beckhams have a villa in Bargemon; John
Malkovich has one in the Luberon; and singer Bono
has one in Èze-sur-Mer.
port.
Markedly more Latin in outlook and temperament, Niçois exhibit a common zest for the
good life with their Italian neighbours; while law-abiding Monégasques dress up to the
nines, don't gossip or break the law. In rural pastures where family trees go back several
generations and occupations remain firmly implanted in the soil, identity is deeply rooted
in tradition.
Affluent outsiders buying up the region are prompting some traditional village com-
munities to question their own (shifting) identities. With 20% of privately owned homes
being
résidences secondaires
(second homes), everyday shops in some villages are strug-
gling to stay open year-round, while property prices in many places have spiralled out of
reach of local salaries.
Le Weekend
The working week in Provence is much like any working week in a developed country:
plagued with routine, commuting and getting the children to school, albeit with more sun-
shine than in many places.
