GOLDEN ROMAN SUN
Rome in her golden days of empire-building, spread northward along the Italian coast and past the Alps to a lovely fertile land on the southern coast of Gaul. Noble families and merchantmen flocked there in great numbers during the century before the birth of Christ, and this golden, sunny land became known as the “Provincia Romana”, a carbon copy of the Roman homeland.
After Caesar conquered Gaul and divided it into three parts, the Roman Province of the south remained geographically separate and detached, but closely tied in government and commerce to the imperial capital. Rich towns and cities grew up in its fertile valleys, enriched with colosseums, theatres, temples, markets, and forums.
Among these cities were Marseilles, Nice, Nimes, Arles, and Aquae Sextiae, now known simply as Aix. Aqueducts were erected in stately proportions, and a paved road linked the new province with Italy. From the Rhône Valley to the stately Column of Augustus at La Turbie high above the bay of Monte Carlo extended the limits of this bastion of Roman civilisation in a rude and uncivilised part of Europe.
However, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Provincia, more Roman than Rome itself, was left stranded beyond the Alps. Soon more powerful conquerors swept down the Rhône Valley, binding it to the rising kingdom of France. Its name gradually changed into “Provence”, but today it still stands apart as a Mediterranean coastland, part French, but mainly “Provençal”, beautiful and provincial.
Passengers on the Caronia's Cruise to the Mediterranean can visit this lovely land, golden with the colour of its sunny romantic past, when their cruise liner drops anchor in the deep harbour of Villefranche on the French Riviera.
[Produced for the Summer Mediterranean Cruise departing New York 27 August 1965]