Département: Var
The little port and well-known resort of St Tropez lies on the southern shore of the gulf of the same name at the foot of the eastern part of the Massif des Maures. There is a large parking lot to the west of the town at the Nouveau Port.
The settlement was known to the Greeks as
Athenopolis; it was named Heraclea Cacabaris by the Romans. The present name is said to go back to St Tropez or Torpes, who was beheaded by the Romans and whose remains were discovered here. In the time of the Saracens the little coastal village was hard pressed but was able to recover and in the 15th C. became a republic.
Very early on St Tropez was a meeting place for artists: Liszt and Maupassant stayed here; Paul Signac bought a house here (La Hune) and as a result a whole string of painters moved to St Tropez, so that at the beginning of the present century the village became rather like an artist's center (Matisse, Bonnard, Utrillo). From 1924 to 1938 the writer Colette lived inh er villa "La Treille Muscate" in St Tropez.
After World War II, St Tropez developed into an extremely popular resort, particularly with prominent people, film stars and the newly-rich. In 1955 Roger Vadim made the film "Et Dieu créa la Femme" ("And God created Woman") with Brigitte Bardot in the principal role, while in the 1960s Gunter Sachs made "The Girls of St Tropez". However it must be said that the gloss which the wealthy brought with them has paled somewhat in the face of mass tourism, even if St Tropez is still a m agnet for the rich and beautiful.
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