The medieval village of SAIGNON, overlooking Apt

Enjoy a stroll through the narrow streets of the village of Saignon , where you will find beautiful old fountains, lovely shaded squares, houses facades traditionally Provencal.

 

Saignon name comes from the Latin " signum ", meaning " sign " as the gigantic rock, sheltering the village, overlooking the town of Apt and served, in fact, with signaling lights to communicate at long intervals between Gallic populations before the Roman invasion ( the town of Apt was founded in 50 BC).

These villages of the Luberon are considered typically Mediterranean. These villages were real fortifications mainly in the hilly areas where water is scarce. These closed on itself communities correspond to regions of small properties, where the only fertile land lie at the bottom of some valleys, and this group has facilitated the existence of a rural crafts essential to the villagers ( wheelwright , blacksmith, etc. . ). In contrast, the dispersed settlement involves large areas tend to live independently.

 

The Gallo – Romans of Apta Julia make this site, dominated by a rock, one of their resorts. On the " Mont Flavien " are built many Villae including Villa Obaga where were exhumed sacred altars and on the website of Tourettes, the ruins of a Gallo -Roman villa mainly devoted to the production of oil and wine.

 

It is 976 that was built on the rock the first castrum before being replaced by three strong, key defense of Apt: three castri named Crugière, Méjean and Roche. From these three medieval castles, cave rooms have been saved, one of which housed an oil mill, cellars, cisterns, aiguiers and stairs carved into the rock.

 

Over the centuries, Saignon has been subservient to many lords, up to forty in the XIVth century.
 

Outside the village, the Abbey St. Eusebius was founded in the VIIth century. The Abbey,  deserted by its monks, became in 1431, a commendation of the Prince Bishops of Apt until the Revolution where it is sold as national property converted barn. The abbey church is used today as a gallery of exhibition .