Southern France (or the south of France), colloquially known as le Midi, is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy. The Midi includes:
- Aquitaine
- Midi-Pyrénées
- Languedoc-Roussillon
- Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
- Corsica
- Rhône-Alpes (the Southern parts)
- Poitou-Charentes (the Southern parts)
This area corresponds in large part to Occitania; that to say, the territory in which Occitan (French: langue d'oc) — as distinct from the langues d'oïl of northern France — was historically the dominant language. The regions of Auvergne and Limousin are also a part of Occitania but are not normally referred to as southern France.
The term Midi derives from mi (middle) and di (day) in Old French; compare Mezzogiorno, the south of Italy. The time of midday was synonymous with the direction of south because in France, as in all of the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is in the south at noon. The synonymy existed in Middle French as well, where meridien can refer to both midday and south.
Read more about Southern France: Films Set in The South of France
Famous quotes containing the words southern and/or france:
“No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is not what France gave you but what it did not take from you that was important.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)