Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume

Sister cities

• San Vincenzo

History

The Roman Villa Lata, remains of which have been identified beneath Place Malherbe in the centre of the town, was one among numerous agricultural working Roman villas in the plain that was traversed by the via Aurelia. The Abbey of Saint Victor at Marseille had dependencies in the neighborhood: Saint-Maximin, Saint-Jean, Saint-Mitre, Sainte-Marie. The Romanesque parish church dedicated to Saint Maximin of Trier was demolished in the final stages of constructing the basilica. In the 12th century, Berenguer Ramon I, Count of Provence, established Saint-Maximin as a town uniquely under his care. In 1246, following the death of Raymond IV Berenger, Provence passed through his younger daughter to Charles d'Anjou, brother of Louis IX of France and sometime king of Sicily. The tenuous Anjou presence at Saint-Maximin was fiercely contested by the seigneurs of Baux among other local leaders. The French baritone Louis Gassier (1820–1871) was born in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume.

Geography

Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa). The average annual temperature in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is . The average annual rainfall is with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume was on 28 June 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 12 February 2012.