Gassin

Gassin's medieval village stands on a rocky spur at about 200 metres, less than four kilometres from the sea; it was built there after the Saracens were driven out, to escape the insecurity of the shore. The highest point, 324 metres, is the Barri de Gassin, north of the windmills of Paillas. Until the mid-eighteenth century the village was called Garcin.

For centuries it stayed rural – olives, wheat and vines; the vines still cover much of the commune, between preserved woods. In 1912 a British group founded the Whitehead torpedo works on the shore at Bertaud, which shaped the whole gulf. Cavalaire (1929) and La Croix (1934) were cut from its territory.