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In the south of France, two hours north-east of Marseille, the pretty village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie sits within the picturesque Verdon Regional Nature Park, famous for its turquoise-blue lakes and vast canyons. 

Moustiers is home to 700 residents, and thousands of tourists visit every year. Honoured as both a Village de Caractère des Alpes de Haute-Provence and one of France’s most beautiful villages, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie has clusters of terracotta-topped houses built from local stone. 

Many have colourful facades in ochre yellow and deep red, with contrasting shutters that make for a picture-postcard effect, particularly with the mass of soaring cliffs behind. Add to all this the sound of running water from River Adou and the various fountains, and you get a complete picture of the village’s award-winning charm.

You can’t miss La Chapelle Notre-Dame de Beauvoir, which sits between two cliffs high above the village. Reaching the chapel involves a 20-minute climb, including 14 stops of the Chemin de Croix, but you’ll be rewarded with magnificent views over the rooftops and Sainte-Croix lake in the distance. 

In the heart of the village is the parish church, whose bell tower is widely held to be one of the most beautiful in Provence. 

Among the old stone walls, the paved streets dotted with olive trees and appealing boutiques, you’ll find more than 20 restaurants covering dining options for all budgets, including the Michelin-starred La Bastide de Moustiers.

A chequered history 

The history of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie reaches way back to the 5th Century when a small community of monks from the nearby ÃŽles de Lérins came to bring Christianity to the valley, settling in caves and eventually building a monastery. The first houses and fortifications date from the 1100s. 

The village suffered during subsequent centuries, from the Plague as well as the effects of regional wars and disputes – and even floods – that wiped out businesses and villagers alike.

Faïence: the saviour 

Finally, in the late 1600s, Moustiers started to get a name for its beautiful ´Ú²¹Ã¯±ð²Ô³¦±ð ceramics. Indeed, after King Louis XIV had melted down all his gold and silver tableware to finance his wars, he apparently decided to replace it with the ´Ú²¹Ã¯±ð²Ô³¦±ð from Moustiers-Sainte-Marie as its quality was ‘unparalleled’. 

Thanks to this royal approval, other nobles and European sovereigns sought to decorate their dining tables with these ceramics in white and cobalt-blue, so the village’s name became forever linked with these hand-painted ceramics.

The Musée de la Faïence traces the history of ´Ú²¹Ã¯±ð²Ô³¦±ð in the village, including the 54-year spell from 1874 to 1928 when production stopped, but now there are seven different ´Ú²¹Ã¯±ð²Ô³¦±ð workshops in Moustiers to ensure that the village’s skills and reputation are never lost.

What’s with the star? 

High above the town, you’ll notice a gold star dangling from a 225m chain suspended between two cliffs, about 60m above the village. Over the centuries, both the star and the chain have been replaced more than 10 times, most recently by using a helicopter.

According to legend, the first star appeared around 900AD, when a knight, Chevalier de Blacas, was taken prisoner during the crusades. He swore that if he returned home to Moustiers, he would fix a silver chain above the village and from that he would hang a star, either as the symbol of his family or in honour of the Virgin Mary, depending on the version you read. French poet Frédéric Mistral wrote about this legend in the 1800s and many say it’s a complete fiction, but the star is certainly real.

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