Le Lavandou | |
|---|---|
 A view within the commune | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location of Le Lavandou | |
  Le Lavandou  Le Lavandou | |
| Coordinates:43°08′19″N6°22′06″E / 43.1386°N 6.3683°E /43.1386; 6.3683 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur |
| Department | Var |
| Arrondissement | Toulon |
| Canton | La Crau |
| Intercommunality | Communauté de communes Méditerranée Porte des Maures |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Gil Bernardi[1] (LR) |
Area 1 | 29.65 km2 (11.45 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 6,431 |
| • Density | 216.9/km2 (561.8/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 83070 /83980 |
| Elevation | 0–485 m (0–1,591 ft) (avg. 10 m or 33 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Le Lavandou (pronounced[ləlavɑ̃du];Occitan:Lo Lavandor) is a seaside resort town andcommune in theVardepartment in theProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azurregion in SoutheasternFrance. Le Lavandou derives its name either from the flowerlavender (lavanda inProvençal) that is prevalent in the area,[3] or more prosaically from the local form of theOccitan name forlavoir,lavandor (forlavador, a public place for washing clothes).
The (then) village is where the famous popular songA Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square was written in the summer of 1939.[4] The words were byEric Maschwitz and the music byManning Sherwin, with its title "stolen" from a story byMichael Arlen. The song had its first performance in a local bar, where the melody was played on piano by Sherwin with the help of the resident saxophonist. Maschwitz sang the words while holding a glass of wine, but nobody seemed impressed.[5]
In the spring of 2002, an attempt was made to find the bar where this classic song was first performed with the view to having a blue plaque set up. With the help of the local tourist office, elderly residents were questioned, but it proved impossible to establish the venue.[4]
In September 2000, the mayor passed an unusual bylaw making itillegal to die in the town. The mayor described his own bylaw as "absurd ... to counter an absurd situation"; the "absurd situation" was that with the town's cemetery already full, a court in Nice had denied permission for a new cemetery because it would mar the beauty of the selected site.[6]
After the fall of nobility, the title of Duke of Lavandou was passed on the Governor of Provence and Languedoc, and from there by primogeniture to theDuchess of Gandia. She married Lev Obolensky in 1980 and had a son, Arnaud Henry Salas-Perez, Prince Obolensky, who became Duke of Gandia, Languedoc and Lavandou, making a Russian prince the titleholder for Le Lavandou.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 3,271 | — |
| 1975 | 3,798 | +2.16% |
| 1982 | 4,269 | +1.68% |
| 1990 | 5,212 | +2.53% |
| 1999 | 5,449 | +0.50% |
| 2009 | 5,747 | +0.53% |
| 2014 | 5,246 | −1.81% |
| 2020 | 5,980 | +2.21% |
| Source: INSEE[7] | ||
Le Lavandou has been twinned withKronberg, Germany, since 1973.[citation needed]
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