Aix (Aquae Sextiae) was founded in 123 BC by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus, who gave his name to its springs, following the destruction of the nearby Gallic oppidum at Entremont.

Aix, which during the Middle Ages was the capital of Provence, did not reach its zenith until after the 12th century, when, under the houses of Barcelona/Aragon and Anjou, it became an artistic centre and seat of learning.

[6] Current archeological excavations in the Ville des Tours, a medieval suburb of Aix, have unearthed the remains of a Roman amphitheatre.

The Cours Mirabeau is a wide thoroughfare, planted with double rows of plane trees, bordered by fine houses and decorated by fountains.

[13] On 3 November 2019, Les Deux Garçons was devastated by a fire that engulfed the entire building, leaving the much loved establishment just a shell.

The interior contains 16th-century tapestries, a 15th-century triptych depicting King René and his wife on the side panels, as well as a Merovingian baptistery, its Renaissance dome supported by original Roman columns.

Nearby are the remarkable thermal springs, containing lime and carbonic acid, that first drew the Romans to Aix and gave it the name Aquae Sextiae.

This residential district was constructed for the gentry of Aix by Archbishop Michele Mazzarino brother of Cardinal Jules Mazarin in the last half of the 17th century and contains several notable hôtels particuliers.

A walking trail links sites including his childhood home, Jas de Bouffan, and his former studio, Atelier Cézanne.

Today Aix-en-Provence remains an important educational centre, with many teaching and research institutes: Aix also has several training collèges, lycées, and a college of art and design.

Linked to the festival is the Académie européenne de musique, a summer school for young musicians with master classes by celebrated artists.

Over the four-year period from 2006 until 2009, Sir Simon Rattle's version of Wagner's Ring Cycle with the Berlin Philharmonic was performed at the Aix festival.

Aix hosted several major cultural events including one half of the Grand Atelier du Midi gala exhibition and an episode of the Révélations pyrotechnical performance.

The city also unveiled major new cultural infrastructure to coincide with Marseille-Provence 2013, including the Darius Milhaud Conservatory designed by Kengo Kuma.

It is accessible from the centre of Aix by road or on foot, taking the wooded footpath of Escrachou Pevou to the plateau of Bibemus.

[22] It dramatically overshadows the small dam built by Émile Zola's father and was a favourite subject and haunt of Paul Cézanne throughout his lifetime.

In the village of Le Tholonet on the precipitous southern side of Mont Sainte-Victoire, there is a windmill that he used, and beyond that a mountain hut, the refuge Cézanne, where he liked to paint.

[27] Mont Sainte-Victoire has a complex network of paths, leading to the priory and Croix de Provence at the summit, to the large man-made reservoir of Bimont and to the Roman viaduct above le Tholonet.

Due to increased financial regulation, Le Milieu has collectively pushed to integrate their crime profits into the legal economy.

There are autoroutes northwards to Avignon and to the Luberon; southwards to Marseille; and eastwards to Aubagne and the Mediterranean coast of Provence; and to Nice and other towns on the French Riviera.

[43] The "pass tourisitque" is offered at the Aix-en-Provence Tourist Office, the Atelier de Cézanne, and the official Aix tourism website.

There are large underground and overground parking structures placed at regular intervals on the "boulevard exterieur", the predominantly one-way ring road that encircles the old town.

This is also the site of an alleged sighting and landing of a UFO in 1981 that is taken seriously by GEIPAN, the department within the French Space Agency responsible for investigating aerospace phenomena.