Description

At the turn of the fourteenth
century Villeneuve was founded
and developed thanks to a few
unpredictable vagaries of the
political situation. Understanding
that he was on the point
of losing control of Provence, a king of France
decided to fortify his borders there. Then, as
the papacy had settled on Avignon as its home
in exile, Villeneuve became one of the favourite
places for country residences for the papal court.
The imposing military installation of Fort
Saint-André, a project devised by Philippe le Bel
and brought to fruition under Jean le Bon, and
the Carthusian monastery of the Chartreuse du
Val-de-Bénédiction, founded by Pope Innocent VI,
are monuments that mark the landscape and bear
witness to that turbulent period when the banks
of the Rhône were the setting for History with
a capital H.