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Lacoste
takes you up, up through the centuries, from the little
restaurant at the bottom with its two curry options, past
the Café de la France and its spectacular hanging
terrace. Then the Mairie and up into the middle ages, over
heavy cobbles as you enter the ancient heart of the old
Lacoste through the Portail de la Garde.
Up
here little has changed except the tread of time, from as
far back as the 1400s. Here there are no shops or restaurants,
just a jumble of ornately decorated doors, mullioned windows,
and intriguing architectural details.
Then
suddenly you reach the Marquis de Sade's castle at the very
top of Lacoste. It is in a state of partial ruin, but it
has been under renovation since the 1950s, first by one
man as a labour of love, and now by the fashion designer
Pierre Cardin, who also presides over the Festival Lacoste
in July and August.
The
Festival Lacoste is a series of musical, theatrical and
other artistic events, including opera in the theatre formed
in the quarry at Lacoste.
Marquis de Sade and Lacoste
What happened here? Who was the Marquis de Sade?
Why did his name give us the word 'sadism'?
The
Marquis de Sade was a naughty aristocrat and libertine who
got up to all sorts of weird sexual practices. In the 1770s
he lived at Lacoste castle and enjoyed mass orgies, also
finding time to have an affair with his wife's sister while
she was staying here.
But
he was also a notable writer, of both pornographic and philosophical
works. Sade was an extreme free spirit, who saw the pursuit
of pleasure as the highest calling, regardless of morality
or laws. This ensured long periods of incarceration for
him.
When
he wasn't locked up or on the run he was here in Lacoste,
the Marquis de Sade's extreme lifestyle dominating the village,
just as his castle does today.
Lacoste massacre
The other historical event that has marked Lacoste
is the massacre of 1545. Back then the Luberon was not so
much about sightseeing, village markets and fine dining,
more about wholesale slaughter, religious wars, sieges,
looting and pillaging.
A
chap named Meynier d'Oppede took it upon himself to cleanse
the Luberon of religious heretics, and Lacoste was a village
full of them. He made a deal at the gates of Lacoste that
he would spare the villagers if they let him in. So they
did, but his men massacred every single inhabitant of Lacoste.
That taught them.
* * *
Today
Lacoste is still as welcoming to outsiders, and has a couple
of restaurants and bars, a bakery and a grocery store.
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The
Cafe de France in Lacoste has a great view of Bonnieux.
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