Old Rougiers

Resource: https://www.merveilles-du-var.net

Rougiers is on the edge of the D1 road linking Tourves to Nans les Pins and Saint Zacharie. To reach the site of the ruins, you have to leave your car in Rougiers, put on hiking shoes and go to the main crossroads of the village where you will find the small square of the fountain and the octagonal tower. From there, we take the long street that climbs in a straight line towards the southern hills. At the end, the road continues to the left. But a stony path begins just opposite at the level of a reservoir. He climbs to the ruins in a very short hour.

What is it ?

If you go through Rougiers, take the time to climb to the heights that dominate the village and let yourself be overwhelmed by the tranquility of the place. Sit down next to the Virgin and, like her, take in the plain that stretches below between Mont Aurélien and the heights of Bras.
Look under your feet: the remains of old Rougiers have been struggling for centuries against invasive vegetation. Approach the ruins of the vast castle, stick your ears to the towers that have stood the test of time and listen to them tell you the story of the village. But they will be unable to go back before the end of the twelfth century, the date of their construction.

From Marius to Napoleon

In fact, the history of the plain of Rougiers really begins much earlier, in the times of the Ligurians who built oppida on many heights in the region. The few sections of walls of an ancient stronghold, hidden in the dense vegetation of nearby Mont Piégu, are the rare and precious vestiges. This fortified place, which dates from the 2nd century BC, even had the honor of hosting the famous General Marius who came to inflict a severe defeat on the barbarians descended from Switzerland and Germany towards Rome.
You have to wait for the relative tranquility brought by the Roman occupation to see a "villa" appear at the bottom of the valley. But the inhabitants returned to protect themselves in the heights during the collapse of the empire and the arrival of invaders from the eastern regions: the 5th century of our era saw a significant fortification of the ramparts of the oppidum.

Later, the heirs of the Empire of Charlemagne again plunged the country into chaos. And it was not the Saracens who, in the 9th century, came to calm the situation. The latter expelled from Provence, peace regained its rights.

It was only at the end of the 12th century that the inhabitants of the plain decided to settle on the site of Saint Jean. We are in the midst of the encastellement of the villagers organized by the small local lords. They build the castle, a chapel, a cistern, a silo and a whole village just below. They also use caves as warehouses. The following decades bring a certain tranquility which contributes to the abandonment of the castrum, so much so that in the 15th century peasants descend to settle in the plain. The various hamlets that surround the crossroads of the main road quickly grow and merge with each other and eventually form the current Rougiers in the 17th century.

In front of the ruins of the stately home stands the chapel of Saint Jean de Solferino. It was built in 1860 by the inhabitants of the village to celebrate the passage on their lands of Emperor Napoleon III returning victorious from Italy where he had defeated the Austrian armies at Solferino.

Very close to the edge of the cliff stands a huge oratory, almost 3 meters high. It was erected in 1683 by Dominican friars, equidistant (or almost) from Saint-Pilon de la Sainte Baume to the south and Saint-Pilon de Saint-Maximin to the north.

Next to

The oppidum of Mont Piégu is on the neighboring hill. It is elongated in a north-south axis and surrounded by steep and rocky slopes on three sides except to the south where one can still appreciate the thickness of the wall which protected the only access inside the stronghold. . This type of configuration is called a barred spur oppidum because only part of the enclosure had to be erected by the inhabitants, the rest being protected naturally by the cliffs of the mountain.
From Antiquity (and perhaps even before), a road climbed from the plain of Saint-Maximin (Aurélienne way) in the direction of Sainte Baume and passed between the two hills of Saint Jean and Piégu.

 A volcano in Rougiers

The hill of Puy Runnier stands just north of the present town: its name probably derives from " Puteus Igneus ", the well of fire. It is a very old volcano with basaltic flows.

legend story

The Peads of Mary Magdalene

It is said that Marie-Madeleine, who had come to live in penance in a cave in Sainte Baume which stands not far from here, went from time to time to the plain to find Saint Maximin.
On the way, it was not uncommon for her to come across locals eager to shower her with praise and touch her and kiss her dress,... One day when she returned, she was followed by a small group of faithful. Desiring to sow them, she addressed a prayer to the Virgin, and on the large limestone slabs around appeared numerous imprints of female feet going in all directions, thus intended to give false directions to the pursuers.
Somewhere along the path that passes between the two hills of Rougiers, one can guess on limestone slabs small depressions formed by the erosive activity of acid rainwater. Some may look like little foot prints, which gave rise to this legend.