Sainte-Maxime

Sainte-Maxime faces south across the gulf of Saint-Tropez, sheltered from the mistral by the wooded hills of the Maures. The land belonged to the abbey of Lérins, which exchanged it with the Cistercians of Le Thoronet; in 1520 the abbot of Le Thoronet began a tower to protect settlers from pirates, and in 1557 his successor brought in tenants to farm the land and finish it. The parish was created in 1672.

The little port shipped timber, cork, olive oil and wine to Marseille and Italy, and a new church went up in 1762. On 15 August 1944 the beaches of La Nartelle and Les Éléphants were among the Allied landing sites of the invasion of Provence.