Villeneuve-Loubet

Villeneuve-Loubet is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It lies between Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes, at the mouth of the Loup River.

It was created by the joining two old villages: the old village of Villeneuve inland and the village of Loubet on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its inhabitants are called Villeneuvois.

Economy

It is at the same time a seaside resort and part of the technopole of Sophia Antipolis, many companies of the tertiary sector being installed in the city.

Culture

Villeneuve-Loubet is the birthplace of the famous 19th century provençal chef, restaurateur, and culinary writer Auguste Escoffier, the author of the Guide Culinaire and the founder of French haute cuisine. Villeneuve-Loubet was also, from 1920 onwards, the home of Maréchal Philippe Pétain (1856 - 1951), the "Hero of Verdun" in World War I and chief of state of the Nazi-collaborationist État Français, commonly known as Vichy, in World War II. Pétain was sentenced to death for treason in 1945; this was commuted to life in prison by Charles de Gaulle and he died a prisoner at Fort de la Pierre-Levée on the Ile d'Yeu in 1951 at the age of 95.

Villeneuve-Loubet was also the site of a battle in World War 2 when it was liberated by the First Special Service Force on August 26th 1944. The tower of the castle was damaged by a shell fired by the US Navy, and dozens of soldiers from both sides were killed or wounded. Surprisingly, in 2006, the bodies of fourteen Germans killed during the fighting were discovered in a mass grave near the town by a local medical student, and exhumed.

Twinned cities

• Forlimpopoli, Italy

See also

• Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department

References

Based on the article in the French Wikipedia.