The capital of Comtat Venaissin has a very Provençal atmosphere. With its old, restored centre, vast Friday market and a countryside brimming with fruit of all kinds, it’s the ideal place to stay at the foot of Mont Ventoux.

Carpentras, a town of Popes and boiled sweets, a former Jewish citadel and a truffle capital. These brief statements alone are a temptation to visit. Because although Carpentras doesn’t have the honour of hosting a great festival like Avignon or Orange, it is perhaps even more representative than its neighbours of the “genuine” Provençal town: lively, animated, enriched by its “terroir” and traditions.

It was once even a Papal city. It is not well known, but the first pontiff to leave Rome in 1313, Clement V, settled in Carpentras, before his successors chose Avignon. From this came a religious tradition that led to the building of a number of monuments, including the Hôtel Dieu and its magnificent apothecary’s store, the former Saint-Siffren Cathedral, the Porte d’Orange, the last remains of the town’s ramparts, and the Law Courts, the former ceremonial room of the bishops of Carpentras. And even the synagogue, the last remains of a Jewish district that was active up to the Revolution, the tradition of freedom of worship granted in Papal territory having attracted many of them to Carpentras.

But you cannot leave the town without paying a visit to its hugely productive countryside. Here, you’ll find vines used to make excellent Côtes du Ventoux wines, solid and robust, fruit orchards and truffle oak plantations. All these products are found on Friday mornings at the outstanding Carpentras market - perhaps the biggest in Provence - or at the winter truffle market, also on Fridays, at which the divine tuber changes hands in great secrecy before being taken away to add its fragrance to the tables of the most prestigious restaurants.