The villa is nestled in the Var hinterland, somewhere near the Plaine des Maures and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, not far from the Verdon or the Mediterranean—amidst rosé vineyards, olive groves, lavender fields, and the scent of figs; amidst “secret passages and hidden paths [that] trace the memory of a France meant for walking, the network of a land that was once agrarian”—yet also a mining region, with its open-cast quarries and railway lines transformed into a delightful network of cycle paths.

These Provençal lands—a natural museum inviting the curious to discover traces left by the Romans, the Knights Templar, and Cistercian monks—form a reserved landscape that reveals its secrets only to those who embrace the art of taking their time.

* Sylvain Tesson « Sur Les Chemins Noirs »