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This large floral park is a themed wonderland of world horticulture with, at its centre, Europe’s biggest greenhouse. Inside the metal and glass “marquee”, one wanders through recreated warm-climate zones, from equatorial forest to the Natal desert. Also in the park is the Asian Arts Museum, a marble and glass construction built over an artificial lake. It contains classical and contemporary creations from the principal Asian civilizations.

The Luberon has a wild, mountain beauty and it is the park’s job to maintain the balance between tourists and the environment. Covering 150,000 ha (375,000 acres), it takes in the rugged Petit Luberon of crags, gorges and perched villages to the west and the more rounded Grand Luberon to the east. It also stretches north to the Monts de Vaucluse. The park’s headquarters in Apt have information on walks, the ecology and the area’s traditions (see Parc Naturel Régional du Luberon).

Along the river Verdon, this national park is a huge patchwork of landscapes from the neatly cultivated lavender fields of the sunlit Valensole plateau (see Valensole Plateau) to the forested hills and pastures of the Artuby, the awesome chasms of the Grand Canyon du Verdon (see Grand Canyon du Verdon) and the beginnings of the Alps. There are brilliant blue lakes created where the Verdon has been dammed. This is a paradise for hikers, with a network of 700 km (450 miles) of paths, bridle-ways and ancient mule highways.

Born in Aix, where he lived most of his life, Cézanne (1839–1906) painted hundreds of oil and watercolour scenes of his home town and the nearby Mont Sainte-Victoire (see Aix-en-Provence) in his own Post-Impressionist style. Better than any other painter, he captures the soul of Provence.

This realist painter (1834–71) painted sunny landscapes of his native Vaucluse, capturing the pure light of Provence’s rugged hillsides. Among his best known works is Deux Lavandières devant la Sainte-Victoire , on display in the Musée Grobet-Labadie in Marseille (see Musée Grobet-Labadié).

The masterful exponent of pointillist style, Signac (1863–1935) came to St-Tropez in 1892. He found, in the glittering reflection of sun on sea, the perfect subject for pointillism’s technique of using a myriad of tiny rainbow dots to depict swathes or blocks of colour, giving an almost psychedelic effect.

The Italian Renaissance poet (1304–74), who lived in Avignon, was a critic of the ostentatious French papacy.

Generations of artists, stars and beautiful people have made this village square possibly the best known in the world. But it remains just that – the rich and famous may come and go, but the Tuesday and Saturday markets are always here (see Place des Lices).

In the second half of the 16th century religious strife erupted in the Luberon between reforming Vaudois (Huguenot) factions and conservative Catholic forces. The plague of 1580 added to the region’s woes.

The Romans considered this 49 m- (160 ft-) high three-tiered bridge to be clear testimony to their empire’s greatness. The top tier was part of an aqueduct that supplied Nimes with water for up to 500 years. Constructed from dressed stone blocks without mortar, the bridge is 275 m (900 ft) long and an enormous feat of engineering.