Porquerolles
Porquerolles, also known as the Île de Porquerolles, is an island in the Îles d'Hyères, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. Its land area is 1,254 hectares (12.54 km2; 4.84 sq mi) and in 2004 its population was about 200.
The island's village was established in 1820, with its lighthouse constructed in 1837 and church in 1850. The entire island was purchased in 1912 by François Joseph Fournier, apparently as a wedding present for his wife; he planted 200 hectares (500 acres) of vineyards which produced a wine that was among the first to be classified as vin des Côtes de Provence. In 1971 the state bought 80 percent of the island to preserve it from development. Much of the island is now part of a national park (the Port-Cros Parc National) and nature conservation area (Conservatoire botanique national méditerranéen de Porquerolles). It is the setting for Georges Simenon's novels, Le Cercle des Mahé (1946) and Mon ami Maigret (1949) and for the 1964 novel Valparaiso by Nicolas Freeling. Some scenes of the film Pierrot le fou , by Jean-Luc Godard (1965) were filmed in Porquerolles. Since 2010, the island also hosts a jazz festival each summer ("Jazz à Porquerolles").