Description :
This radio programme is part of Radio País and was produced within the framework of the European Tramontana Network (Réseau Tramontana / Tramontana Network), a project co-funded by the European Union that documents and preserves the cultural memory, oral traditions and rural heritage of Europe’s mountain regions. In this episode, the presenters introduce the linguistic richness of Provence and the Occitan language before inviting a local expert to describe the history and identity of his homeland.
The conversation focuses on the villages of Buoux and Sivergues, located in the heart of the Luberon mountain range. The guest explains how these communities were severely affected by plague, war, famine and depopulation during the late Middle Ages. From the fifteenth century onwards, families from the Alpine valleys gradually repopulated the area, bringing with them their traditions, their agricultural practices and the Occitan language, which became both the everyday language of the inhabitants and, for many Protestant communities, the language of worship.
The final part of the programme reflects on the profound transformation of the landscape during the twentieth century. As farming declined and rural populations disappeared, cultivated land was progressively reclaimed by forests and natural vegetation. The guest also highlights the region’s long human history, from prehistoric times through the Neolithic, emphasizing how the landscapes of the Luberon preserve traces of centuries of human activity and remain an important testimony to Provence’s cultural and environmental heritage.