The Luberon

Situated in natural reserve, the Luberon encompasses rugged limestone mountains and gentle rolling valleys with lush vegetation; a hiker’s paradise with no less than 5 villages perchés listed as ‘the most beautiful villages in France’. It is is often incorrectly written as the Lubéron (with an acute accent on top of the "e") but the correct spelling is Luberon (French); or even Leberon (Provençal Occitane).

The Geography and Natural Reserve

The Luberon covers an area of 600 square kilometres and has a maximum elevation of 1,256 metres. Composed of three mountain ranges: (from west to east) le petit Luberon, le grand Luberon, and le Luberon oriental, the valleys both north and south of the mountain ranges contain a number of towns and villages as well as rich agricultural land. The highest point of the Luberon is le Mourre Nègre, the peak of le grand Luberon. Le petit Luberon reaches 700 metres high and le Luberon Oriental ranges from 280 to 976 metres.

The entire Luberon falls within the boundaries of a regional natural reserve:. The UNESCO listed Parc Naturel Régional du Lubéron set up to preserve the unique wild landscape of the garigue characterised by thickets of kermes oak, juniper, holly oaks and aromatic shrubs such as lavender, sage, wild thyme, rosemary, mugwort and other flowering plants. So many things to do, from mountain biking, climbing, to family outings on bicycles, hiking with a donkey.

The Perched Villages

Charming old farmhouses and medieval villages perchés (perched villages) are scattered throughout the Luberon, strung together by small winding country roads. Villages with a palpable, rich past forged by the presence of the Romans, the history of the Popes and the Comtat Venaissin, the Jews protected by the Popes and the Vaudois, The villages wind around 1000 year old castles, forts or churches offering panoramic views of the valleys below with their patchwork of lavender, sunflower and poppy fields, cherry orchards, vineyards and olive groves.

The villages and rural landscape represent the heart of Provence, and are arguably France at its finest . Five villages are ranked as among "the most beautiful villages in France": Ansouis, Gordes, Roussillon, Lourmarin and Ménerbes. Time-worn stone, ochre washed walls, shady squares with clear water fountains, and a seemingly eternal sunshine come together in these lovely hilltop hamlets which fashion the landscape of the Luberon. Though fortified in the Middle Ages with thick walls and well-guarded portals, few of the village châteaux survived, but the walls and portals remain in varying states of wholeness to provide scenic nooks for enjoying panoramic vistas – sometimes with a glimpse of another hilltop town in the distance.

La Raffine is located in the golden triangle of the Luberon near to Lacoste, Gordes, Goult, Bonnieux, Roussillon and Ménerbes, all living examples of an authentic lifestyle where the Provençal art de vivre is alive and well and artisans hone traditional crafts in risk of disappearing elsewhere in France. The performing arts are alive with concerts and festivals and the arts and crafts scene is rich, inspired by the abundance of local materials. Each village has a market day and a cafe or outdoor restaurant from which to enjoy the authentic Provence over glass of rose and the traditional gastronomy of the region.

A Favorite Destination

The vineyards and olive trees, which continue to shape the Luberon countryside, were first planted by the Greeks and the Romans (Cavaillon, the Via Domitia). Since then there have been many different influences including the Popes, in Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin (an independent papal entity until the 1791 post-Revolutionary annexation by France), and the Jewish populations the papal enclaves protected in (Cavaillon, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Carpentras and Avignon ). Throughout the centuries the region is known for welcoming free-thinkers and clandestine organisations: from the Vaudois, a religious movement in the Middle Ages; to the French Resistance in World War II.

The sunlight and climate in Provence has also drawn many numbers of artists inspired by the materials and the very special light. Each village has had its famous residents: Samuel Beckett lived in a farmstead near Roussillon, Albert Camus and Winston Churchill spent time in Lourmarin, Marc Chagall, Victor Vasarely and Pol Mara settled in Gordes; Dora Maar and painter Nicolas de Staël resided in Ménerbes and André Breton and Max Ernst stayed in Lacoste. 

Today the Luberon is a favourite destination for visitors to the south of France, known in the English-speaking world through a series of books by author Peter Mayle, chronicling his life in the Luberon village of Ménerbes: A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence, Encore Provence, and a novel set in the Luberon, which was made into a film in 2006 called A Good Year directed by Ridley Scott (who also has a property in the area).

the Vaudois in the Luberon

The Vaudois derive their name from a merchant from Lyon, Valdès or Valdo, who lived in the 12th century. Following a crisis of conscience, Valdo devoted his life to preaching the Gospel to his fellow citizens. He had the New Testament translated into Provençal, and his ideas spread all over Europe.  He and his followers "Les Pauvres de Lyon" were condemned by the Church as dissidents and excommunicated by Pope Lucius III in 1184. The Vaudois continued to preach but were forced to live in hiding in remote regions like the Luberon.  Their movement manages to spread throughout the Middle Ages, despite the persecutions. Their preachers, called barbes travel the roads of Europe to periodically visit small groups of clandestine believers,

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Vaudois came to settle in Provence, coming from Dauphine or Piedmont in successive waves. They helped revive a ruined and depopulated country. There were about thirty barbes in the Luberon when the Vaudois decide to join the Reformation movement of Zwingli and Bucer building temples to worship openly and translating the Bible into French: the famous Olivetan Bible. Once they left their clandestine ways the Vaudois became victims of an intense persecution in the Luberon, led by Jean Meynier, Baron d'Oppède and first president of the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence. Villages were destroyed and pillaged, starting in Merindol.. The massacre extended across the Luberon killing 3,000 people, devastating 24 villages including Merindol, Cabrières d’Avignon, Lacoste, Ménerbes, Curcuron, This massacre of the Vaudois in the Luberon outraged the whole of Europe, and exterminated the movement in the region

The Papal Enclave: le Comtat Venaissin

The Comtat Venaissin is the former name of the region around the city of Avignon, roughly the area between the Rhône, the Durance and Mont Ventoux, with a small addition located around Valréas. The Comtat was an enclave within the Kingdom of France, independent until the French Revolution. The enclave’s inhabitants did not pay taxes and were not subject to military service so living in this area was attractive. The Comtat Venaissin included nearly 30 towns, villages and hamlets in the middle of the 14th century, some in the Luberon: Oppede, Bonnieux and Cavaillon. Oppède belonged to the Popes until the 14th of September 1791 and its quarries supplied the stone used to build the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Bonnieux was also pontifical land from the 14th century up until the 14 September, 1791 when it was annexed to France, along with the Comtat Venaissin County which belonged to the Pope.

It is also worth mentioning that the Comtat became an haven for French Jews, who received better treatment under papal rule than in the rest of France. The oldest synagogue in France, built in the 14th century, is in Carpentras.