Frontignan

Sister cities

• Pineda de Mar
• M'diq
• Vizela
• Gaeta

History

* 1362 foundation of the fortress * 1560 ransacked by the Protestants * 16 June 1642: King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu meet in Frontignan. * 1787: Thomas Jefferson, future president of the United States, stays in Frontignan and reportedly enjoys the local Muscat de Frontignan wine. * 1896: The Hôtel de Ville was completed. * 28 June 1940: The car driven by Paul Reynaud hits a tree at La Peyrade, killing his mistress Helene de Portes. Reynaud is hospitalized, arrested on discharge, and imprisoned for the duration of the war. * 25 June 1944: The Frontignan oil refineries and parts of the city (including the rail station) are bombed by the 15th USAAF causing some 40 civilian deaths. * 12 August 1944: Battery Frontignan is attacked by the 465th BG in preparation of the invasion of Southern France on 15 August 1944. * 31 December 2002: Frontignan together with the neighboring towns of Sète, Balaruc-les-Bains, Balaruc-le-Vieux, Vic-la-Gardiole, Mireval, Gigean and Marseillan joins the Communauté d'agglomération du Bassin de Thau (since 2017: Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée).

Geography

Frontignan is located in the Languedoc coastal plain between the towns of Sète and Montpellier. The town is surrounded by the Gardiole hills to the north, the Ingril lagoon in the east, the Étang de Thau to the west and the Mediterranean shore (including the beach resort Frontignan-Plage) to the south. The Rhône-Sète canal separates the inland town centre and Frontignan-Plage. Frontignan station has rail connections (TER Occitanie) to Narbonne, Montpellier and Avignon.

Most-observed species

• Purple Spurge

  Euphorbia peplis L. · Magnoliopsida
  23,360
• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  7,848
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,328
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,756
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,221
• Greater Flamingo

  Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas, 1811 · Aves
  5,133
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  4,818
• Black-headed Gull

  Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,659

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2008-11-26
  1 km WSW of Creissan, France
• M 2.6 — 2008-04-15
  64 km SSW of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France
• M 2.5 — 2007-09-02
  9 km ESE of Gruissan, France
• M 2.6 — 2007-08-03
  1 km NE of Jonquières-Saint-Vincent, France
• M 2.5 — 2007-01-20
  16 km NW of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France
• M 2.7 — 2006-12-22
  15 km E of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France