Sisteron

Sisteron guards a defile where the Durance cuts between two rock walls, historically the gate between Provence and the Alps and the reason a fortress sits here. The citadel is a layered structure from the eleventh century onward with Vauban-era additions, climbing the ridge in walls, a chapel and a stepped underground stairway cut through the rock to a lower gate. Across the river the Rocher de la Baume shows limestone beds standing almost vertical, folded by Alpine pressure, striped like a set of blades. Allied bombing in August 1944 destroyed much of the old town and part of the citadel.

History

Sisteron has been inhabited for 4,000 years, and the Romans used the route through it, as a Latin inscription in the rocks near the road to Authon shows. It escaped the barbarian invasions after the fall of Rome but was ravaged by the Saracens, was first fortified by the Counts of Forcalquier in the 11th century and later marked the northern edge of the lands of the Counts of Provence, and in 1483, under Louis XI, it rejoined the kingdom of France; around that time seven plagues killed two thirds of its people. Between 1562 and 1594 Protestants and Catholics fought over the town and its citadel, with two sieges, and the town walls were built then; plague returned in 1630 and typhus in 1744. The town stayed royalist through the Revolution, so when Napoleon passed on his march north from Elba in 1815, it ignored him and let him through (Wikipedia, Sisteron).

What to look for

• The vertical strata - the Rocher de la Baume with beds folded upright.
• The layered citadel - fortifications from the eleventh century to Vauban.
• The rock stairway - an underground stepped passage through the ridge.
• The Durance gap - the defile the town was built to control.

When to go

April to October; the citadel closes over winter. Summer evenings bring open-air performances in the citadel theatre. The climb inside is steep with many steps.

What to expect

The citadel involves a lot of stairs and uneven ground. The old town was heavily damaged in 1944 and is partly postwar. Summer heat in the valley is strong.

Nearby

The Verdon lies southeast; Gap is north.