Provence perched village

They enthroned atop a rocky outcrop, clinging to the edge of a plateau or hug the side of a hill. They were oppida during the pre-Roman period and the Middle Ages castrum. Everywhere, hilltop villages were built to bring people away from invasions and evil band of robbers or neighbors more or less close. Confined spaces and difficult access where long social life revolved around the castle and the church, perched villages symbolize the solidarity of people who lived in promiscuity to better defend themselves and developed a sociability based on rules and practices that prefigure our current democratic functioning. "Perched Villages in Provence" offers a stroll through a dozen villages of the Luberon (Oppède, Menerbes, Lacoste, Bonnieux, Saignon) and Monts de Vaucluse (Gordes, Goult, Roussillon Sault Simiane, Caseneuve, Vacheres) through their history, their heritage and their most remarkable places.

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