Place Masséna

The red ochre facades lining Place Masséna glow in the Mediterranean sun, framing a sprawling, pedestrian square patterned with black and white tiles. Once a chaotic nexus of narrow lanes, this space emerged in the eighteen thirties as a deliberate attempt to connect the old city with the newer, growing town. Its central focal point, the Fontaine du Soleil, features a towering bronze Apollo, a statue that spent three decades in storage because city leaders found his physique too distracting for public display.