DK Travel : Provence and Côte d'Azur : Top 10 Figures in History

Provence and Côte d'Azur : Top 10 Figures in History

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1. Julius Caesar

Caesar besieged Marseille after its citizens sided with his rival Pompey in 49 BC.
2. François Grimaldi

Grimaldi disguised his soldiers as monks in order to seize Monaco in 1297.
3. The Anti-pope

When the papacy returned to Rome, French cardinals elected Robert de Genève as Pope Clement VII, creating a split in the Church until 1417.
4. Petrarch

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

Born in St-Rémy-de-Provence, the scholar (1503– 66) published his book of prophecies in 1555.
6. Napoleon Bonaparte

Bonaparte landed at Golfe-Juan on 1 March 1815 to regain his empire, only to be defeated at Waterloo.
7. Louis-Auguste Blanqui

Born in Puget-Théniers in 1805, the socialist was one of the leaders of the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871.
8. Jacques Cousteau

Toulon-based naval officer Cousteau perfected the aqua-lung in the 1940s, pioneering the sport of scuba diving.
9. Antoine de St-Exupéry

The aircraft of the French author and pilot vanished in 1944 while on a reconnaissance flight over Provence.
10. Brigitte Bardot

Sex icon and film star Bardot became the symbol of St-Tropez in the 1960s.