Valbonne
A village laid out with a ruler in 1519, like a Roman town
The story
Before you is Valbonne, a village built to a plan. The name means “good valley.” A monastery was founded here in 1199. Its monks followed the rule of the Order of Chalais, and in 1346 the abbey was given to Lérins Abbey. After the plague of 1351, the area emptied. In 1519 Augustin Grimaldi, bishop of Grasse and abbot of Lérins, decided to resettle it. The new village was built like Roman towns, on a grid: a main street, a cross street, and a square in the center. That is rare in this region. The outer houses served as a wall, with no doors facing out. Place des Arcades, where you are standing, took its present form in the seventeenth century. The old abbey church became the parish church and was named after Saint Blaise. In 2019 Valbonne celebrated its five hundredth birthday. On Friday mornings a Provençal market fills the square.
Visiting
The village is open at any time. Provençal market on Fridays, 8:00–13:00, on Place des Arcades; antiques market on the first Sunday of the month. The tourist office is on the same square, +33 4 89 87 73 32. The former abbey is being restored; hours of the church and the abbey are best checked at the tourist office or on ville-valbonne.fr.
On the way
Photos
Sources
- Ville de Valbonne Sophia Antipolis — Histoire et richesse du patrimoine valbonnais
- Ville de Valbonne Sophia Antipolis — Restauration de l’abbaye
- Ministère de la Culture, base Mérimée — Abbaye (ancienne), Valbonne (PA00080901)
- Ministère de la Culture, base Mérimée — Place des Arcades, Valbonne (PA00080966)
- Côte d’Azur France — Village de Valbonne
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