Saint-Tropez

Saint-Tropez sits on the southern shore of its gulf, with the Massif des Maures across the water and Sainte-Maxime opposite. The town takes its name from the early Christian martyr Torpes, whose body, legend says, washed ashore here in a boat with a rooster and a dog. Ruined by war in the fourteenth century, it was repopulated in 1470 by sixty Genoese families brought by Raphaël de Garezzio, who walled the town; two of his towers still stand, one at the end of the Grand Môle and one at the entrance to La Ponche.

For two centuries it was a small free town, exempt from taxes, with its own militia: on 15 June 1637 the Tropéziens beat off a fleet of Spanish galleys, a victory the town still celebrates with its bravade. Paul Signac arrived in 1892 and drew Matisse, Bonnard and Marquet after him – the story the Musée de l'Annonciade tells.