Vence Area Guide

Also known as the “City of Art”, Vence is a mediaeval walled town, which still exists today as a tight, walled defensive circle of medieval buildings. They appear much as they would have appeared hundreds of years ago, with five very different gates still in daily use by thousands of people who come and go, day and night.

It is filled with interesting and historic sights and monuments to a fascinating and tumultuous and very artistic history. There are for example engravings on the facades dating as far back as 220 AD and 239 AD, and the cathedral was built in the 4^th Century on the site of a Roman Temple.

More contemporarily, a chapel in the cathedral has a mosaic by Marc Chagall dated 1911, and the small Chapelle du Rosaire is decorated with stained glass by Henri Matisse. The castle is today a modern and contemporary art museum.

Vence has been a town of artists, with painters, sculptors and writers living and working here for centuries. The town is full of galleries, with sculptures, decorated buildings and frequent (summertime) outdoor exhibits.

The 12th-century troubadour Pierre Vidal called Vence "le doux repaire" (the sweet nest), and in the 13th century, Dante Alighieri (usually referred to simply as Dante) included Romeo de Villeneuve, Lord of Vence, in his Paradise. Nostradamus wrote of “the Garden of Vence, marvel of Provence”. Some of the famous painters who worked in Vence include Dufy, Soutine, Matisse, Chagall and Dubuffet. In 1930, D. H. Lawrence spent his last days in Vence, and was buried here

It is an attractive old town surrounded by a ring of hills, with magnificent views to the Mediterranean across Antibes and Cagnes sur Mer, and its winters are notably mild thanks to the protective hills on the northern side of the town.

Property coming up for sale in Vence is generally quickly snapped up, often by UK and Northern European buyers for second or retirement homes, cognisant of all the charms and attractions mentioned above. However, it is equally popular because it is only 20 kms from Nice International Airport, 26 kms from the ski resort of Gréolières, 20 kms from Antibes and 28 kms from Cannes.

Location, location, location!