Caroline Pettavino, Director of Château de Lourmarin.
Château de Lourmarin is an emblematic place that embodies the love of Provence. We’re starting a list of portraits of people who love Provence, the Luberon and the people of Provence. These people are generous enough to share their love of our beautiful region in a short interview. Whether they’ve lived in the Luberon all their lives, moved here recently or come here regularly on holiday, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is the exchange and the emotion you get when you come here!
Portrait CAROLINE PETTAVINO
“Caro du château”
Here in Lourmarin, Caroline Pettavino is inevitably associated with the Château de Lourmarin, so Caroline is known as “Caro du Château”, which is what everyone calls her. An almost public figure, despite her great discretion, Caroline is part of the local landscape.
Caro, where are you from?
I’m from Lourmarin, the daughter and granddaughter of a winegrower. I studied logistics and spent a few years ‘outside Provence’, notably in Paris and Scotland.
Tell us about your career at Château de Lourmarin.
I joined Château de Lourmarin in May 2001 for a summer job and 21 years later….. I’m the manager of this wonderful place.
Château de Lourmarin in a nutshell.
The setting
The Château is located in Lourmarin, in the heart of the Luberon Regional Nature Park in the southern Vaucluse. The château is managed by the Fondation de Lourmarin LAURENT VIBERT.
In 2022, the Château de Lourmarin welcomed 56,000 visitors, making it the fourth most visited historic building in the Vaucluse, behind the Palais des Papes, the Pont d’Avignon (Pont Bénezet) and the Théâtre Antique d’Orange.
The château can be visited, but that’s not its only attraction – far from it! To understand its role at the heart of Lourmarin, we need to take a closer look at Robert Laurent-Vibert.
A word about Robert Laurent-Vibert
In August 1920, Robert Laurent-Vibert came across the ruins of the Château de Lourmarin while out for a drive. The Château is representative of the French Renaissance in the Vaucluse, but was left in a state of disrepair and neglect by its owner. In particular, it was used as a stopover lodge by Les Caraques on the way to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. He decided to buy it back at a time when it was for sale at stone prices, and to restore it with his friends.
Robert Laurent-Vibert had fond memories of his stay in Rome at the Ecole Française after his studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres in Paris. He also enjoyed the atmosphere at the Villa Medici, where the Prix de Rome winners stayed. Hence his wish to create a “Little Villa Medici of Provence” in Lourmarin, which would take in boarders during the summer. In 1923, he bequeathed the Château de Lourmarin and all its collections to the Académie des Sciences, Agriculture, Art et Belles Lettres in Aix-en-Provence. After his sudden death in 1925, the Académie d’Aix set up the desired Foundation, which was recognised as being in the public interest in 1927.
A castle to visit and a cultural centre.
The Château de Lourmarin welcomes visitors, exhibitions, concerts, a festival (Yeah )and artists in residence.Program
Artists in residence are housed in the château, often young artists. The artist in residence has no obligation of result. The aim is for them to find an inspiring cocoon within the château that will enable them to produce their art. That’s how Robert Laurent-Vibert imagined it, and that’s how the château lives today.
“The purpose of the Fondation de Lourmarin Laurent-Vibert, founded in 1926, is to carry out the last wishes expressed by Mr Robert Laurent-Vibert in his will, to help safeguard the art and thought of his homeland in Provence. It maintains and manages the Château de Lourmarin, develops its libraries and collections, and takes in young artists, researchers, scholars and writers as boarders, who are reimbursed for all expenses during their stay”.
Caroline, what does Provence mean to you?
Above all, Provence is a land where the seasons come and go. I’m enchanted by the landscapes that change with the seasons. The Luberon is the land of farmers, a land of seasons.
Read our article on the Yeah Festival, an electro rock festival at the Château de Lourmarin.
