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Although the countryside was largely untouched by World War I, Provence, like much of Europe, lost a generation of young men in the “Great War.” With insufficient manpower to wrest a living from the land, much of the remaining population migrated to emerging urban industrial centers. Many small holdings merged into larger, commercial farms and vineyards – a process that, sadly, continues today. Nevertheless, the trend for processing and sales cooperatives has enabled enough family farms, orchards, olive groves and vineyards to survive for the area to retain its highly independent character.

All sorts of tribes have invaded Provence; Greeks, Ligurians, Romans, Moors and Celts have all, at one time or another, coveted and occupied the Côte d’Azur. But the Roaring Twenties brought an invasion of a completely different kind. Rich and carefree, artistic and bohemian, mostly American but a few Europeans as well, the new invaders heralded the Jazz Age, gambled at the Riviera’s first casinos and created the glamorous ambience for which this corner of Provence is still justly famous. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Aldous Huxley, Thomas Mann, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were among those who rode the deluxe Train Bleu from the Channel port of Calais, through Paris, to the Côte d’Azur at Nice. It was an era of hedonism and free spending that lasted until the Great Depression destroyed many of the fortunes that had made it possible.

World War II ushered in a very dark period in the region’s history. Partly occupied by the Italians, who moved into Menton as early as 1940 and partly under the control of the Vichy government, as a kind of “free” zone, Provence remained outside of German occupation until the invasion of 1942. The German’s fortified the coast, their pillbox bunkers commanding wide sea views. In August, 1944, the area was liberated by the Americans and the Free French after 14 days of fierce fighting, a week of it centered around Marseille. During the war, the maze of caves laced throughout the Alpilles, the Verdon, the Pre-Alpes and the Alpes Maritime provided perfect shelter for cells of French Resistance fighters who harried the Germans, rescued Allied soldiers and launched daring hit-and-run attacks. Jean Moulin, the great hero of the French Resistance, was active in Provence. Look for the Route Jean Moulin, a marked scenic route that follows the hero’s travels, winding through the small towns here.

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