The small town is south facing at the northern shore of the Gulf of
Saint-Tropez. In the north the Massif
des Maures mountain range protects it from cold winds of the Mistral. Sainte
Maxime was founded around 1000 AD by the Monks from the Lérins Islands outside
Cannes. They built a monastery and named the village after one of the Saints of
their order - Maxime. Fishing was the mainstay for the inhabitants but during
the early 19th century increasing amounts of lumber, cork, olive oil and wine
was shipped to Marseilles and to Italy. The village grew and in the 20th
