Traditional Provence Costume

The traditional costume is different according to the social class by the quality of fabric, but the shape is more or less alike.


It disappeared at the end of XIXth century, as people started to adopt the attire of Paris fashion which little by little spread all over France.

As underwear, all girls have a long cotton shirt, a petticoat, and split panties in order to go easily to the toilets; the richer they are, the better embroidered their underwear is.

They all have a cross attached by a black ribbon as jewellery. The peasant’s one is in wood whereas the bastidane’s one is in gold. In winter they wrap themselves in a large cape.

The peasant girl wears a costume in coarse fabric serge. Her skirt has red and white stripes; her blouse is in white cotton. A colourful apron and cotton scarf are her only extravagance. On her head she has a plain white cotton beguin hat. When she works in the fields, she wears a wide-brimmed straw hat which is called “capeline” to protect her from the rain in winter and the sun in summer. If the mistral blows, she bends the brim of her hat and knots it with a ribbon under her chin in order to avoid that it flies away.

The craftswoman wears a cotton dress in colourful Provence fabric. Her apron is uncoloured. She has an embroidered cotton cap and a scarf which is colourful during the week and white on Sunday.

The Bastidane woman is the highest in the society, she is the wife of a rich landowner or of a notable in the city. She also wears a dress, but it is in silk. Her bonnet is enriched with delicate lace. When she gets married, her mother-in-law or husband gives her the keys of the house; she attaches them as well as a pair of scissors to a silver “clavier”.

In public, girls must always wear a bonnet and socks, only prostitutes don’t.

All boys have the same attire, the richer they are, the better is the quality of the fabric. It includes pants which are in dark velvet in winter and in white cotton in summer. Their waist is surrounded by “taïole’, a large strip of wrapped red cotton in summer and grey flannel in winter to keep them warm. They wear a white shirt, a colourful vest and a jacket. They have a brown or black hat that they take away only for saluting, eating or attending the mass service.

Arlésiennes, girls in Arles have a very specific and very elegant silk attire and a particular hairdressing.

Traditional Cuisine in Provence

Provence cuisine is part of our inheritage. It is tasty and healthy (our Mediterranean diet is promoted world-wide as the healthiest one). Its staples are tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and herbs which grow wild in the countryside (thyme, rosemary, basil, sage, . . .).


Traditional dishes are based on the local produce: vegetables, rabbit, game, lamb, goat cheese, fruits . . .

We use the veggies soaked by sun, from the garden such as tomatoes, zucchinis and eggplants to make the famous ratatouille for example, a vegetable stew which takes three hours to make if you do it the very traditional way.

Traditional courses include ratatouille, rabbit or chicken à la Provençale, aïoli, bagna cauda, pistou soup with basil, daube (beef or game marinated in red wine sauce), lamb , pissaladière, bouillabaisse, …

In maritime Provence, we cook a lot of fish (bouillabaisse, cod brandade, bourride, aioli . . .),

We have also specific condiments whose base is olive puree (tapenade, anchoiade…) or garlic (aioli).

For Christmas, there is a very special meal called 'Gros Souper' which you can read about on http://www.rivieraapt-traditions.blogspot.com/

All year round we have gastronomy festivals where you can taste local produce for free.

If you rent one of my accommodations (http://www.rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/),  I can give you cooking lessons http://rivieraapt-cooking.blogspot.com/  
If you attend a weight loss camp in my place (http://rivieraapt-weightlosscamp.blogspot.com), you will have cooking lessons for free as part of the program.