Every design for Fréjus

Inside the Amphithéâtre romain de Fréjus, the stones were laid under Tiberius, when Forum Julii was one of the great ports of the Mediterranean and the only naval base of Rome's fleet in Gaul. Julius Caesar had refounded the town to counter Massalia; Augustus settled veterans of the 8th legion here and made it capital of Narbonensis; and Agricola, who would complete the conquest of Britain, was born here.

Fréjus also carries a deep wound. On 2 December 1959 the Malpasset Dam on the Reyran gave way above the town, killing more than 400 people, and that night has never left local memory. The Théâtre Romain, the Baptistère and the Musée Archéologique keep the long story; the Mémorial des guerres d'Indochine and the Pagode Hông Hiên Tu tell of a garrison town with ties far beyond France.

Between the Esterel and the gulf it shares with Saint-Raphaël, the road home always passes some piece of Rome, and that is how Fréjusiens know they are back.