Villeneuve-lès-Avignon

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.