Saint-Paul-de-Vence

A 16th-century fortified village that drew Matisse, Picasso and Chagall, and became one of the great strongholds of modern art in Provence.

The ramparts, still intact, encircle a maze of art galleries and small squares shaded by century-old plane trees. The Fondation Maeght, a stone's throw from the village, houses one of the most important modern art collections in France, in a building designed by the Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert.