Saint-Cannat (; ) is a commune in the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( ; , ; ; "the Mouths of the Rhône") is a Departments of France, department in southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var (department), Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the sout ...

department in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

. In 2021, it had a population of 5,653. Part of the

Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis The Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis (, ) is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the cities of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. It is located in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Vaucluse departments, in the Provence-Alpes-C� ...

, it is located just northwest of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

, seat of the larger

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

History

The village was named after Canus Natus, a 5th-century Roman Catholic saint, who was a Roman clergyman born with white hair, a quirk synonymous with great wisdom at the time.official website
He was buried in Saint-Cannat, although there was no such place at the time, but soon enough several houses were built into a hamlet. In the 12th century, Archbishop Pierre mentioned ''Castrum Santi - Cannati'' in a paper. In the 13th century, villagers turned on their archbishop and pledged allegiance to the lord of Les Baux, and then to the

kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Kings: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations. *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'', an 11th-century epic Persia ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

(namely, Frederic III of Aragon, or perhaps Louis XIII). This, however, only lasted three years. In the same century, the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

established a settlement there. Navy officer

Pierre André de Suffren Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

was born here on 17 July 1729. A century later, Alphonse Tavernier, a poet, was born here on 27 November 1852. On 11 June 1909 a terrible earthquake, the largest ever recorded in

metropolitan France Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...

, destroyed almost everything in the area. Shortly after, the houses were re-built in the same architectural style. Both in 1984 and 1994 huge floods ravaged most houses. It has retained several fountains dating back to the 17th and 18th century, the remains of the medieval ramparts and the château, which today houses the town hall and museum. The

Route nationale 7 The Route nationale 7, or ''RN 7'', is a trunk road ( nationale) in France between Paris and the border with Italy. It was also known as ''Route des vacances'' (The Holiday Route), ''Route bleue'' (The Blue Route), and — sarcastically, dur ...

bisects the village. There is a

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

club, ''Polo Club de Saint Cannat'', opened in the 1970s. It organises the Open d'Aix and the Tournoi de Noël every year. There is also an entertainment park called the ''Village des automates''. It is also home to the

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

Château de Beaupré, started by Baron Émile Double (1869–1938) in 1890.History
/ref> The creek Budéou flows through the village.

History

Demographics

Gallery

References

External links