"Pisa and Saint-Tropez", a bilingual book that traces a thousand-year-old friendship

It's simply titled "Pisa and Saint-Tropez." A title in Italian and French. Like the entire book, which offers, for each page, the text in Italian and its translation into French.

This book is the result of a long discussion between representatives of the two friendly towns, inextricably linked by the history of the knight Torpes. For if the saint is celebrated here, he is also celebrated in Pisa, the place of his martyrdom, where the people of Saint-Tropez have been going every year since 1955 to pay their respects, along with the Pisans. It is a work, prefaced by the two mayors, Michele Conti and Sylvie Siri: it talks about history, culture, traditions, but also cinema, illustrated with exceptional photos, some of which are little known.

Beyond the Legend of the Saint

Of course, the martyrdom of Saint Torpes and his beheading, his arrival on our shores, are abundantly recalled and illustrated, but the work goes beyond: notably in a historical and economic approach developed by the research of Laurent Pavlidis (researcher and curator of the museum of maritime history of the citadel), which reveals very strong commercial links from the...11th century, therefore well before the arrival of the Genoese of Raphaël de Garezzio.

Far from demystifying the history of Saint-Tropez, it is all these very close links between the two cities that are highlighted: bravado is omnipresent, Provençal folklore too, as is Pisan folklore. The costumes of our bravado players rub shoulders with the remarkable Renaissance clothes of the "Giogo del ponte" [Editor's note: the bridge games]. Tourism also has its place there... and its beaches.

And if, for a very long time, the village of Saint-Tropez has been inseparable from the history of French cinema, the city of Pisa and its seaside resort, Viarreggio, are just as much so on the Italian side.

Another way of conceiving friendship and forging links between those of the world-famous cities.

The book is available at the tourist office, the citadel, the Oustau de la Bravade, the Scarlett bookstore and the Gendarmerie Museum.