There is not only one Provence, as the novelist Colette noted, but several. The exceptional variety of the region's landscapes is matched by the complexity of its cultural make-up and the wealth of myths that surround it. The Greeks colonized Provence, and planted its olives; Celts and other northern tribes came next, and were followed by the Romans, who made it their first "Province" outside Italy, and left there an incomparable architectural legacy.

The official boundaries of present-day Provence were more or less established by the end of the 19th century, at a time when the region was acquiring an increasingly mythical dimension. The remarkable variety of Provence is reflected in its villages, which differed markedly in their character and architecture from one district to another. While many villages of the mountainous areas of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence are of granite and slate, those of Alpes-Maritimes have a colorful and dramatic Italianate look, with east-west settings, cheerful Baroque churches and tall, brightly-coloured houses. Nonetheless, there is a type of village which is generally thought of today as unmistakably Provencal and is principally associated with the departments of the Var and the Vaucluse. Among its comon charateristics are a dramatic, hill-top site, and an architecture of russet-tiled roofs, olive-green shutters and rough-hewn, ivy-covered masonry. More specific features include austerely simple and darkly-lit churches, with belfries crowned with light and playful ironwork. Typical too, are the 17th and 18th centuries fountains, shaded squares and promenades, and the deserted cobbled lanes.

Although Provence is often referred to now as "the cradle of modern art" the region was only "discovered" by artists in comparatively recent times. One of the pioneers was Vincent van Gogh who, however, showed no apparent interest in the traditional rural world vaunted by the regional writers. It was left to van Gogh's equally eccentric contemporary, Cezanne, one of the few important painters actually native to Provence, to record the serene, classical beauty of the Provencal countryside. Though little appreciated in his day, Cezanne was the main inspiration behind the thousand of artists from all over Europe and America who came to Provence after the First World War and attempted to render its villages and landscapes in terms of solid, simplified forms radiant with colour. Artist communities came to be established in the villages of Provence. The most thriving of all the original artist village was Saint-Paul-de-Vence, which eventually came to be one of France's livelier centres of contemporary art. Tourists and "foreign" settlers have followed in the footsteps of the artists and, in recent years, have turned their attention increasingly to the Provence. Village life there has come to be widely seen as a civilized ideal, inspiring, for instance, a taste for a simple, informal style of daily existence. An interesting aspect of this phenomenon has been the current fashion for the once despised oil and garlic based simplicity of Provencal village cooking.

The new settlers in Provence have helped to revive the most beautiful villages of the region, while often promoting a rural ideal no less mythical than that of writers such as Frederic Mistral and Marcel Pagnol. The image of Provence as a "blessed land" has made over the past few years a greater impact than ever, and continues to detract from the true complexity and cultural riches of the region's villages. Yet, the sheer beauty of these villages and their settings is such as to make one understand how myths are formed and sustained.