Planted within a walled garden on the slopes above Aix-en-Provence, where Italian cypresses and ancient plane trees frame the ochre stonework of an 18th-century bastide, Villa Gallici was conceived from the outset as a private fantasy rather than a conventional hotel. Decorator duo Gil Dez and Charles Montemayor shaped the interiors in the early 1990s with an accumulative sensibility drawn from Provençal, Italian, and Baroque influences — a confidence that refuses to resolve itself into any single period. The 22 rooms and suites carry that eclecticism through to every surface: one room hangs with hot-air balloon toile de Jouy in crimson and gold beneath a silk canopied bed; another layers chinoiserie wallpaper against Louis XVI fauteuils upholstered in matching fabric, a gilded Baroque mirror anchoring the composition above a boulle-inlaid console. The outdoor spaces hold a different register entirely. The pool terrace, laid in pale timber decking and rimmed with red-canopied sun loungers, opens toward the bastide's classical garden facade — stone urns, wrought-iron balustrades, and clipped box hedging arranged with the formality of a small Italian villa. The restaurant terrace, shaded by a broad plane tree whose canopy filters the Provençal light across iron bistro chairs upholstered in red check, sits alongside a marble fountain and carved stone busts. Inside, the dining room sustains the decorative pitch of the bedrooms: parquet de Versailles floors, oil portraits in gilt frames, tapestry armchairs, and floral silk curtains pooling onto bare wood.

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Paul Cézanne missed Aix terribly whenever he left, and never ceased to be inspired by its beauty. Many after him succumbed to the charm of this town and the ambience of this Florentine residence. The rooms are sumptuously decorated, and open onto a private garden filled with the fragrance of lavender. The cuisine pays tribute to Provence with dishes like sautéed loin of lamb and aubergine caviar with olives, black garlic sauce and fried basil. Try the famous local speciality of Calisson, sweets flavoured with melon and orange. Villa Gallici offers a special “Cézanne package”, which includes a visit to the painter’s studio.