What is this big tower on the side of the mountain? A fortress? A temple? In fact, it is a store for ice. A renovated landmark of an ice economy that was thriving up to the end of the 19th century. The Sainte Baume mountain range is a water tower for the whole region with really cold winters. Thus, century after century, the local farmers supplemented their revenues with the commerce of ice. They diverted the sources to large shallow pools. They cut out the ice sheets and stored them in such thick-walled stone towers. There were about 20 of them. The lust for ice came from the wealthy families in Aix, Toulon and Marseille. Peak business was in summer when the ice was moved by night in convoys that involved more than 400 donkeys from village to village.
La glacière Pivaut was the largest with a capacity of 3 000 tons. It is now the only renovated trace of this activity. Guided tours recount its story. Up there the panorama is stunning. One can see the eternal snow of the Alps. And it is that snow that broke the local ice economy. At the end of the 19th century a new rail connection could move the unlimited snow of the Alps faster and cheaper to the customers in Provence. With no way to keep up the local activity took only a couple of years to stop.
Sainte Baume water tower
