Bonnieux Video Guide
Strategic Hilltop Village
Another hilltop village clinging to the summit.
It's a strategic position that has made Bonnieux a desirable place from the very early ages. There are indications that the area was inhabited as from the Neolithic age. In Roman times, the region of Bonnieux was a most important thoroughfare for the Romans, travelling from Cadiz to Milan. The Pont Julien (see below) is a witness.
In the Middle Ages, Bonnieux became a Papal enclave, through a bizarre chain of events. This meant that the town was a tax-free haven in the centre of the French kingdom. Smuggling was rampant and the town prospered. Only the French revolution was able to put a stop to the special privileges of the townspeople.
Today, you find little evidence of this prosperity, more of a pretty, sleepy village. The main D36 road that cuts through the village passes by bleak and gray houses of an undetermined age. What does take your breath away is the splendid view over the, often wind swept, valleys of the Luberon below, the fertile plains of Cavaillon and beyond - all the way to Mont Ventoux on a clear day.
