Fox-Amphoux

• Var (83670) • Population: 349 • Altitude: 540 m

Fox-Amphoux is an old Roman hilltop village perched at the crossroads of two "voies Romains" (Roman roads). It's a sleepy little village sitting on a low hill, with some good views out over the surrounding countryside. You can walk along every street and lane in the village in 10 or 15 minutes. So, unless you happen to be passing by anyway, there are other more interesting places to explore. However, if you're spending a few days in the Central Var area and have a liberal budget, this would be a very quiet and relaxing village for a base.

The small center square is very shady, and for once the trees are not platanes. Some of the shade trees are nettle trees (micocoulier), including the huge, centuries-old (perhaps 500 years) micocoulier up at the end of the square in front of the church. The village buildings are a mixture of ruins and renovations, all stone and all ancient looking.

An ancient stone church sits up at the end of the square in the center of the village. A 3-star hotel is located beside the church, and at least one of its eight rooms is actually an old monk's chamber in the church's bell tower.

Apart from the small hotel, the only other commerce is a small weaver's shop with some lovely hand-woven woolen garments. But even the loveliest garments are inedible, and there aren't any other shops or cafés here (excepting the rather pricy Auberge); perhaps one of the reasons this nice little village is as calm "off season" as during the middle of vacation time.

History of Fox-Amphoux

Name

First record, Fors Castrum was the name of the Roman camp; Fors in 1097; Fuz in 1113. In the Middle Ages the two hills were separate villages, Castrum de Fossis and Castrum de Anfossis.

Prehistoric: The two hills here have been inhabited since the Bronze Age, and vestiges of the Iron Age and pre-Roman pottery have been found in the village.

Gallo-Roman: Roman-era sites have been discovered at Clastre, Le Logis, Cormeil and Les Jonquières. The Roman road to Riez passed by here through the current vinyards. A 4000 m2 Roman dig is located at Clastre and Logis (at the road junction 1 km northwest, and along the D32 west from there).

Hiking

• GPS: 43.586205, 6.101599

Maps

IGN (1/25,000) #3443 OT "Aups Salernes"

Vineyards, fields and farming lands fill the countryside immediately surrounding the villages. Four km north and northeast, between Fox-Amphoux and Régousse or Moissac-Bellevue, is a huge wooded area, including the Foret Domaniale de Pelenc. There are a lot of forestry trails here for exercise and exploration.

Dining

Auberge de Vieux Fox.
Menu 150 F; à la carte pretty expensive but good.
Tel 04 94 80 71 69; Fax 04 94 80 78 38

Transportation Fox-Amphoux

Department 83, Var Buses

See Beyond's Var Department Bus Schedules for downloading the Var bus-lines map [Plan du Reseau] and bus-line schedules [Horaires] (link for PDF files).
Schedules for the Var bus lines are on the VarLib Horaires-Ligne page (http://www.varlib.fr/horaires_ligne/?rub_code=6") - type the line number in the Numéro ... ligne box to access the bus schedule PDF link. (Type a couple of digits in the box to get a list of route numbers.)