Page 60 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

58  INTRODUCING PROVENCE

Post-War Provence

Paid holidays, post-war optimism, and the
St-Tropez sun cult all made the Riviera the magnet
it has remained for holiday-makers. The region still
offers a rich variety of produce – olive oil, wine, fruit,
flowers and perfume – though industry, especially
in the high-tech sector, grows apace. The environment
has suffered from over-development, pollution and Port-Grimaud
forest fires. The 1960s saw massive North African The successful “Provençal Venice”,
immigration, and today unemployment creates a car-free leisure port, was built by
racial and political tension. François Spoerry in 1966 in regional
village style (see p127).

Bus Stop by Philippe Starck
The modern architecture of
Nîmes typifies many bold
projects in the region.

Fires
The devastating forest
Beach at Nice fires that ravage the
Though many are pebbly, the region are fought by
Riviera beaches still attract planes that scoop up
dedicated sun-worshippers. sea water.

1956 Grace Kelly marries 1962 Lower Durance engineered to Picasso
Monaco’s Prince Rainier III develop hydro-electric power
1946 Picasso
starts painting 1952 Le 1961 Art 1970 Sophia-Antipolis 1977 First section of
in the Grimaldi Corbusier’s Cité festival of new technology park Marseille underground
Castle, Antibes Radieuse built Ecole de Nice opens near Antibes railway opened
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980
1954 Matisse dies 1970 Autoroute du 1973 Picasso dies at Mougins
Soleil completed
1956 Roger Vadim films And God Created 1971 The “French Connection”
Woman, starring Brigitte Bardot, in St-Tropez drug ring is exposed
1962 Algerian Independence – French 1982 Princess Grace is
1959 Floods in Fréjus North Africans (pieds-noirs) settle in Provence killed in car accident