Fontaine-de-Vaucluse

The Sorgue emerges at the base of a two-hundred-and-thirty-metre cliff at the head of a closed valley, and it is the most powerful spring in France, draining a limestone plateau of some twelve hundred square kilometres. In spring flood the water rises up the shaft and pours over the rocks in a torrent; in late summer it drops below the visible pool and the river appears further down the bed instead, which disappoints anyone arriving in August. Cousteau dived it in 1946 and several attempts followed; a remote submersible reached three hundred and eight metres in 1985 without finding the bottom of the system.

History

The village, once simply Vaucluse, from the Latin vallis clausa, "closed valley", gave its name to the department; people have lived here since the Neolithic, its spring was the object of a major cult in antiquity, and divers have brought up more than 1600 coins of the first century BC to the 5th century AD from two underwater sites. In the 6th century the hermit Saint Véran is said to have lived here before becoming Bishop of Cavaillon, and a monastery founded after him lay in ruins by the 11th century before being rebuilt. Petrarch made it his favourite home in the 14th century and wrote that the famous spring grew more famous through his stay and his songs; he left in 1353, and his house is now a museum, while a column in his honour was raised in the 18th century. In 1946 Jacques Cousteau and another diver nearly died searching for the bottom of the spring when their air was contaminated with carbon monoxide (Wikipedia, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse).

What's there

• The cliff-foot pool - the spring emerging under a 230-metre wall.
• The spring flood - water pouring over the rocks in March to May.
• The exploration history - the dives and the unreached bottom of the shaft.
• The Petrarch connection - the poet's valley and a small museum.

When to go

March to May, when snowmelt and rain push the spring to overflow. From July to autumn the pool is often still and low, and the spectacle is absent. The village is crowded in summer regardless.

Things to know

Off-season visitors regularly find a quiet green pool rather than a torrent. The walk up from the village passes a solid line of souvenir stalls. Parking is charged and the path is stony.

Nearby

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue lies west; Gordes is northeast.

Key facts