This beautiful southern French city on the banks of the Rhône has a fascinating past. It started life two millennia ago as the prosperous Roman settlement of Avenio. Destroyed by barbarian raids during the early middle-ages it rose again as a small city state during the 11th century. However, the city made the crucial mistake of siding with the heretical Albigensians, or Cathars, against the French Crown and was sacked by King Louis VIII in 1226.

Popes and humanists

The City was soon rebuilt however and its finest hour followed shortly after. The Pope decided to relocate here in 1309 from Rome where things had become a little uncomfortable due to the turf wars between the leading Italian families. The Papacy had acquired the nearby Comtat Venaissin, see my Provence’s Best App a few years before which would serve as a country retreat. Consequently, for the next century several popes and anti-popes ruled the Christian world from the massive Papal Palace which still dominates the town.