La Ciotat

Sister cities

• Singen
• Torre Annunziata

History

The name La Ciutat, meaning 'the City' in Occitan (Provençal) and Catalan, became prominent in the 15th century. In 1429, La Ciotat was granted a charter recognizing it as an independent commune. Over the next century, it became a refuge for Genoese aristocrats escaping the conflicts between France and Spain in their homeland. These immigrants likely played a key role in establishing a shipyard, which specialized in constructing vessels to export local products such as olive oil, wine, wheat, and soap. In return, these ships brought back luxury goods—including spices, silks, carpets, perfumes, and porcelain—to satisfy the growing demands of the town's increasingly prosperous residents. Later, La Ciotat was the setting of one of the first projected motion pictures, L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat filmed by the Lumière brothers in 1895. According to the Institut Lumière, before its Paris premiere, the film was shown to invited audiences in several French cities, including La Ciotat. Another three of the earliest Lumière films, Partie de cartes, L'Arroseur arrosé (the first known filmed comedy), and Repas de bébé, were also filmed in La Ciotat in 1895, at the Villa du Clos des Plages, the summer residence of the Lumière Brothers. In 1904 the Lumiere Brothers also developed their first colour photographs in La Ciotat. In 1907 Jules Le Noir invented the game of pétanque in La Ciotat, and the first tournament was held there in 1910. The history of the game is documented in the Musée Ciotaden. The Hôtel de Ville was built as the head office of a local shipbuilding company in 1978.