História de Saint-Tropez: piratas e pintores

Enquanto Saint-Tropez foi colocada no mapa de destinos do jetset internacional por Brigitte Bardot e as celebridades que se seguiram, it has a long and interesting history that spans far farther than the 1950s. The present incarnation of the town was shaped not just by celebrities, but over centuries, by its seafarers. Thanks to its fishermen, captains, and crews, Saint-Tropez was renowned in all the world’s ports, and, as a result, some of history’s most admired sailors dropped anchor in this charming town.

O homem sem cabeça

No ano 68, Saint-Tropez e as cidades de Grimaud e Cogolin receberam o nome de um incidente maluco envolvendo um homem sem cabeça, um galo e um cachorro. Você pode leia a incrível história aqui.

Um St Tropez abandonado ganha nova vida

Like many parishes in Provence, Saint-Tropez had been abandoned by its residents after wars, epidemics, and famines-the three scourges of the Middle Ages. In 1470, the nobleman Raphael de Garessio organized the repopulation of Saint-Tropez at the request of Jean Cossa, the feudal overlord for the Gulf of Grimaud.

Os primeiros tropezianos chegaram da Itália ou de aldeias próximas e construíram as suas casas em torno da torre do castelo parcialmente demolida, que hoje é o Castelo Suffren na Place de la Mairie . Inicialmente era uma pequena aldeia com apenas três ruas: rue du Portalet, rue du Puits e rue Saint-Esprit, todas ainda hoje existentes.

O Porto e a dizimação do fundo do mar

Little by little, the port in St Tropez developed and surpassed the nearby Port of Cavalaire, which had been active since ancient times. The town experienced remarkable growth throughout the 16th century and attracted both sailors and merchants.

Um século se passou antes que as terras situadas entre o mar e as cidades de Gassin e Ramatuelle began to be cultivated. Vineyards dominated to the extent that the quantity of wine produced quickly grew to be more than what was needed for the local population. The Tropezians, who were already looking out to sea, began to export it to Provence and the ports of Italy. The sailors also exported everything that the Massif des Maures had to offer, such as wood, cork, or chestnuts.

In the 1540s, Tropezian coral harvesters were recruited by boats from Marseille to capture this ‘red gold’ off the coasts of North Africa. While this harvesting was extremely and permanently damaging to sea-life, the coral industry further contributed to the enrichment of the town, which counted nearly 4000 residents by the end of the 16th century.

Piratas, medo e escravidão

In the 1510s, pirates called ‘the Barbarossa brothers’ (one of whom became famous as “Red Beard”), were in the service of the Sultan of Constantinople. They initiated decades of Muslim piracy along the Christian coastlines, and Saint-Tropez did not escape these depredations.

Esta ameaça foi a principal razão para o desenvolvimento da “milice burguesa”, a milícia a tempo parcial que ainda hoje existe sob a forma do Corpo de Bravade. Inicialmente, esta guarda civil era comandada pelo senhor ou por um 'homem honrado' na ausência do senhor. A partir da década de 1510, o senhor, que não residia com frequência em Saint-Tropez, abandonou gradualmente as suas obrigações militares. Em 1558, as autoridades municipais decidiram compensar esta lacuna e encarregaram-se da defesa da vila, nomeando anualmente um “capitão da vila”.

Apesar dos perigos da pirataria, o século XVI ainda foi um século de crescimento para a cidade e para os seus residentes. Contudo, o século seguinte seria um século de crise…

The beautiful period of growth began to slow in the 1600s. Piracy was at its height and a large part of the Tropezian fleet was captured. The archives tell us that from 1607 to 1625, 22 ships, single-mast boats, and barques were seized or burned by the Barbary pirates. The city became impoverished and lost nearly 1500 residents. The poorly dredged port gradually filled with silt.

The situation seemed just as catastrophic in the middle of the century. By the 1660s, the fleet was reduced to a few single-mast vessels and small fishing boats. But, like all crises, this one passed, and a recovery was underway by the end of the century.

Um Novo Império

The 18th century was marked by a new period of development, as many Tropezians turned to the Ottoman Empire. The Turks no longer had control of the seas and had seen their maritime trade decline. For them, the only solution was to charter ships from the King of France, their sole ally in the Mediterranean thanks to the peace treaty signed between Francois I and Sulieman the Magnificent in 1536.

Por estranho que pareça, desde que se desenrolou este confronto entre cristãos e muçulmanos, foram os navios provençais, e em particular os tropezianos, que garantiram a segurança marítima das mercadorias e das pessoas do Império Turco. Alguns desses marinheiros se tornariam chefes de grandes dinastias marítimas.

It was an endeavor that required the experience of the sailors from this small Provencal town. Like other boats based along the Provencal coast, the Tropezian sailors served the Sultan’s subjects by transporting goods and people across the Empire. The local sailors primarily conducted this coastal trade in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean and they often spent half their lives in the east.

Guerra e batalhas pelos tronos…

The 18th century was also marked by the “Systeme des Classes” maritime conscription program. This practice, set up by Jean-Baptiste Colbert during Louis XIV’s reign at the end of the previous century, consisted of the state drafting French sailors according to the needs of the royal navy. As a result, the king’s ships had crews made up of fishermen, shipyard workers, and commercial seamen, all supervised by officers who were mainly from the noble classes.

With approximately two-thirds of its men involved in maritime activities, Saint-Tropez was a fertile ground for conscripting sailors. It isn’t surprising that so many of them were called to Toulon to embark on warships. There were more than 200 Tropezians at the Battle of Velez-Malaga in 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, when France supported Philip V-the grandson of Louis XIV-against the other European claims to the Spanish throne.

É difícil exagerar o papel de Saint-Tropez na marinha real francesa. Algumas batalhas envolveram 10% da população da cidade e mais de 60% dos marinheiros ativos. Mais de 500 marinheiros locais participaram da Guerra da Independência Americana de 1778 a 1784, enquanto mais de 100 estiveram envolvidos na trágica Batalha do Nilo entre as frotas britânica e francesa em 1798. Também estiveram presentes mais de 70 homens locais. ao largo da costa da Crimeia durante a Guerra da Crimeia em 1854. Apesar do declínio no número de marinheiros, muitos habitantes locais ainda usavam uniformes da marinha durante as duas guerras mundiais.

O declínio e o renascimento de St Tropez

O século XIX foi marcado por um certo declínio, que Eugene Sue ilustra vividamente, e com um toque de ironia, no seu romance A Salamandra: “Quiet and old Saint-Tropez, home of a brave admiral, of the noble Suffren! All that is left of your former splendor are these two towers, reddened by a blazing sun, cracked and ruined, but adorned with green ivy crowns and garlands of blue-flowered bindweeds… And you too, poor port of Saint-Tropez, we can also pity you! For it is no longer those dashing ships with scarlet banners that anchor in your deserted waters; no, it is sometimes a heavy merchant ship or a meager skiff; and if luck has it, a thin schooner, with a narrow bodice tight as a bee, comes to collapse in the shelter of your breakwater, and the entire town is thrown into a state of emotion.”

Eugene Sue sensed that a page of the city’s history was being turned. The glorious voyages in the service of the Turks were definitely a distant memory. Yet even though Eugene Sue was an enlightened connoisseur of maritime history, he seemed to overlook the fact that there were still countless men sailing the world’s seas, from the coasts of Africa to the West Indies.

When his novel appeared in 1832, Saint-Tropez was looking for a future, and it would be the vitality of the Annonciade shipyards that helped restore the city’s glory in the middle of the century. While the shipyards in La Ciotat and La Seyne specialized in the construction of steel-hulled steamers, Saint-Tropez met the demand for wooden sailing boats. The Tropezians would build bigger and bigger boats. Their brigs and three-masted sailing ships would gain renown across the country’s southern ports, and Tropezian builders sold their boats to captains from Agde to Antibes.

Embora a segunda metade do século XIX tenha visto muitos tropezianos se afastarem gradualmente do mar, ainda havia um número considerável de pessoas que se dedicavam ao comércio dos seus antepassados. Passaram pelo Estreito de Gibraltar a bordo de grandes navios de três mastros que viajaram do Oceano Índico ao Mar da China Meridional, navegaram pelas costas africanas de Goree a Zanzibar e frequentaram os portos de Havana, Nova Iorque, Valparaíso ou São Francisco.

Travelers visiting Saint-Tropez mostly noticed the fishermen returning to the quay every day to dry and repair their nets while their wives sold the fish. They were oblivious to the fuller story behind the lives of these seafarers. This is how the myth of the charming little fishing port was born, even though up until the 1920s, captains from Saint-Tropez commanded some of the finest vessels of the French merchant navy.

At the same time, the small town began to attract those seeking peace and quiet. Emile Ollivier, the last prime minister for Napoleon Ill, opened the way, succumbing to the charms of Saint-Tropez as early as 1862. He was followed at the end of the century by Octave Borrelli, the one-time governor of Egypt, who had a large castle built which still bears his name.

A multidão elegante e artística

O sul da França é famoso por desfrutar de uma longa associação com uma gama de pintores talentosos que se reuniram na região em busca de inspiração nas cores, luzes e vistas provençais. Saint Tropez tem sido um dos favoritos entre grandes mestres artísticos como Matisse, Picasso e Signac, que vieram para a pacata vila de pescadores em algum momento de suas carreiras e foram inspirados a criar algumas de suas melhores obras.

The history of the painters in the town is well known, but there were also the writers, and then the filmmakers arrived after the First World War, settling in Saint-Tropez and around the gulf. This is how Saint-Tropez changed its face once again.

Logo o pequeno porto ficou na moda e, em 1926, o célebre showman e gerente de teatro parisiense Leon Volterra mudou-se e adquiriu o que se tornou o Chateau Volterra. Monsieur Léon Volterra era um imponente empresário de teatro de Paris que, durante uma visita a Saint-Tropez, que já era um ponto de encontro das estrelas do dia, foi arrebatado por uma sereia local, Simone, um pescador filha. Eles se casaram no mesmo ano.

When elected mayor of Saint-Tropez in 1936, Léon Volterra had little time for his official functions and left matters in Simone’s capable hands. “The Lady Mayoress”, as she became known, was a popular figure in the area, a tireless promoter of its cultural life and, evidently, an indefatigable hostess.

O casamento dos Volterra desmoronou logo após a guerra, mas Madame Volterra permaneceu no Château, vendendo parcelas de terra para sobreviver. Continuou a acolher atores, pintores e escritores no Castelo e, todos os anos, no Natal, abria-o a toda a aldeia de Ramatuelle. Nos anos posteriores, ela se tornou uma defensora fervorosa do festival anual de teatro ao ar livre da vila, no qual, até sua morte em 1989, ocupou um lugar na primeira fila em todas as apresentações.

Muitos filmes seriam rodados na cidade. Alguns diretores vinham contar uma história ambientada na Provença, como Jean Choux, que filmou La Serva (“O Servo”) em 1929. Filme de Jean Godard Despeje uma noite…! (“for a night”), filmado na cidade em 1931, ilustra magnificamente a Saint-Tropez dos loucos anos 20, uma Saint-Tropez que duraria apenas mais alguns anos. De 1935 a 1941, Volterra tornou-se prefeito de Saint-Tropez, tornando a cidade ainda mais glamorosa.

Após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, Saint-Tropez ficaria mais na moda do que nunca. Os cineastas voltaram e em 1955 o filme E Deus criou as mulheres foi lançado e causou bastante polêmica (aqui está a história completa sobre isso).

From then on, the entire world, from all spheres of society, would know of Saint-Tropez, as a glamorous destination where the newest fashions are on display and where masterpieces and lovable B-movies continued to be filmed.

Hoje

Hoje em dia é impossível não notar o estacionamento repleto de carros de luxo europeus e também a multidão simpática. Se tiver sorte, é possível identificar facilmente nomes como Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Ralph Lauren e outras celebridades da lista A.

Até hoje, o porto continua a ser a marina mais famosa do mundo, e a península continua a ser, apesar da verdadeira degradação ambiental devido à sobrelotação, um dos recantos mais preservados e menos artificiais do Sul de França. É claro que por trás desta imagem festiva e celebrada está uma história rica e mais íntima: a dos tropezianos que, geração após geração, fizeram a Saint-Tropez de hoje.

Quer mais? Leia nosso guia para a história da lista A de St-Tropez, a história maluca sobre o homem sem cabeça que dá nome à cidadee aprenda sobre o escândalo que tornou St-Tropez famosa.