Town wall (16th c)

Saint-Paul de Vence's bastioned fortifications hug the contours of the rocky spur on which the village stands. Curtain walls and bastions were constructed on the order of François I in the 1540s, forming a one-kilometre perimeter that has undergone only slight modifications since the 16th century. They were designed by Jean de Saint-Rémy, Commander of the Artillery and an expert in fortifications. His name first cropped up in the 1530s, when François I sent him on missions in the south of...