2600 years of Glanum in Saint Rémy de Provence

Mas des Figues is located at 2643 Old Arles Road, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. This road is the Via Domitia — the oldest Roman road in Gaul. Caesar traveled it. You'll be sleeping in his footsteps.

Located on the old Via Domitia route, 3.5 km from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and ~5 km from the ancient site of Glanum, Mas des Figues is part of more than 2,600 years of history.

Here, the Salyens, the Romans, and then Julius Caesar crossed the same territory you are discovering today. The path Philippe takes every morning to reach his organic vegetable garden was traveled by Caesar in 49 BC.

An estate located on the Via Domitia

Mas des Figues is located at 2643 old Arles road — the very route of the Via Domitia, the first Roman road built in Gaul. This road connected Italy to Spain and passed directly at the foot of the Alpilles, at the entrance to Glanum.

The route: Col de Montgenèvre → Durance → Glanum → Mas des Figues → Ernaginum (Saint-Gabriel, crossroads of 3 Roman roads) → Tarascon → Beaucaire (192 miles = 284 km from Montgenèvre) → Nîmes → Narbonne → Spain.

The Salyens, the first inhabitants of the Alpilles

From the 6th century BC, the Salyens — a Celto-Ligurian people — settled in the Alpilles. They chose a strategic site around a sacred spring at the foot of the mountain: this would be the birth of Glanum.

They develop the following there:

• a religious sanctuary around the sacred spring of the god Glan
• a defensive oppidum on the heights — including the rock of Baux-de-Provence, 8 km from Mas
• an active exchange center with the Greeks of Massalia (Marseille)

In 123 BC, Rome subjugated the Salyens. Their territory became the Provincia Romana — which would give its name to Provence. Their sanctuary at Glanum survived and was transformed.

Glanum, an exceptional ancient city about 5 km from Mas

Approximately 5 km from Mas des Figues, Glanum is one of the most beautiful archaeological sites in Provence. It can be reached by bicycle from the estate via the Canal des Alpines to Saint-Rémy, then along the Route des Antiques.

The city developed in three successive phases on the same sacred site:

• Celto-Ligurian — sacred origin around the spring of the god Glan (6th century BC)
• Greek — influence of Massalia, agora, peristyle houses, inscriptions in Greek (2nd century BC)
• Roman — apogee under Augustus: forum, baths, twin temples, luxurious houses (1st–3rd centuries)

We also discover there:

• the Roman baths supplied by spring water
• the forum and the basilica
• the twin temples of Augustus and Livia
• dwellings adorned with mosaics and frescoes — evidence of a refined daily life

In 270 AD, the Alamanni sacked Glanum. The city was abandoned forever. It disappeared underground for 17 centuries, until the excavations of 1921.

The Antiques, witnesses to Roman power

At the entrance to Glanum stand two of the best-preserved Roman monuments in Gaul — visible from the road, about 5 km from Mas des Figues:

• The Mausoleum of the Julii — the best-preserved Roman funerary monument in the world. Four sculpted faces depicting battle and hunting scenes. Augustan period, 1st century BC.
• The triumphal arch — it marked the entrance to the city from the Via Domitia. Julius Caesar and his legions crossed it in 49 BC.

These two monuments can be seen without entering the site, standing in the Provençal countryside for 2,000 years.

A land inhabited for 2,600 years

After the destruction of Glanum in the 3rd century, the inhabitants founded Saint-Rémy-de-Provence a few kilometers to the north. The old road from Arles — the route of the Via Domitia — remained the main road throughout the Middle Ages.

Since then, this land has never ceased to be inhabited, nor to inspire. It has witnessed the passage of:

• Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus) — born in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 1503
• Charles Gounod composed Mireille in Saint-Rémy in 1863, inspired by the landscapes of the Alpilles.
• Frédéric Mistral — sings of Provence, of which Saint-Rémy is the heart
• Vincent van Gogh — interned at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole (~5 km from Le Mas) in 1889-1890, painted The Starry Night and the Olive Trees of the Alpilles
• Philippe Michelot — bought the estate in 1998 and has been cultivating it organically (certified FR-BIO-10) for 26 years
• And today… you

A unique location for discovering the Alpilles

From Mas des Figues, everything is easily accessible — on foot, by bike or by car:

• 3.5 km — Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, via the pedestrian and cycle path along the Alpines canal
• ~5 km — Glanum Archaeological Site and the Antiques
• ~5 km — Saint-Paul-de-Mausole (Van Gogh's asylum)
• 8 km — Les Baux-de-Provence
• 15 km — Eygalières
• 30 km — Arles (UNESCO heritage)
• 45 km — Avignon (Palais des Papes)
• 50 km — Marseille

An experience rooted in time — and in the land

Staying at Mas des Figues is not just about visiting Provence. It's about becoming part of a 2,600-year-old tradition.

• Walking on a thousand-year-old path — the same one walked by Caesar, the pilgrims of the Middle Ages, and the merchants of Provence
• Eat what the earth produces this morning — Garden → Kitchen → Table, organic permaculture vegetable garden certified FR-BIO-10
• Drink Alpilles wine — IGP Alpilles vineyard cultivated on the estate: Syrah, Cabernet, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Counoise
• See the landscapes that Van Gogh painted — the cypress trees, the olive trees, the unique light of the Alpilles
• Living at the pace of an ancient land — with Philippe, 5 bedrooms, 5 months a year

""In 1998, I was a CEO. I gave it all up. To reconnect with the land, the real land, with what grows naturally. Twenty-six years later, I cultivate, I make wine, I cook what I harvested at dawn. Here, nothing is manipulated."" — Philippe Michelot