Mont Ste-Victoire , a rough pyramid whose apex has been pulled off-centre, lies 10km east of Aix. Ringed at its base by the dark green and orange-brown of pine woods and cultivated soil, the limestone rock reflects light, turning blue, grey, pink or orange. In the last years of his life Cézanne painted and drew Ste-Victoire more than fifty times, and, as part of his childhood landscape, it came to embody the incarnation of life within nature.

 

You may, however, be more interested in climbing Mont Ste-Victoire and in the view from it, though hiking on the Mont, and many other summits in the area, is forbidden from July to mid-September. The southern face has a sheer 500-metre drop, but from the north the two-hour walk requires nothing more than determination. The GR9 , also called the Chemin des Venturiers, leaves from a small car park on the D10 just before VAUVENARGUES , 14km east of Aix. Having reached the 945-metre ridge, marked by a monumental nineteenth-century cross that doesn't figure in any of Cézanne's pictures, you can follow the path east along the ridge to the summit of the massif and then descend south to PUYLOUBIER (about 15km from the cross). Bring plenty of water and protection against the fierce sun if walking during summer.

At Vauvenargues, a perfect weather-beaten, red-shuttered fourteenth-century château (definitely not open to the public) stands just outside the village, with nothing between it and the slopes of Ste-Victoire. Picasso bought the château in 1958, lived there until his death and now lies buried in the gardens, his grave adorned with his sculpture Woman with a Vase . There is a friendly, good-value hotel in the village, au Moulin de Provence , 33 rue de Maquisards (tel 04.42.66.02.22, fax 04.42.66.01.21; 160-220F/¬24-34), whose owners speak English.