Medieval village of Gassin

Listed and classified as one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France, the hilltop village of Gassin was long known as "The Lookout of the Gulf". Due to its position, it was possible from this height to monitor the Gulf of Saint-Tropez - then the Gulf of Grimaud - and the Bay of Cavalaire as far as the Hyères Islands.
Historical evidence abounds from the medieval past: the Saracen Gate, opened in the 13th-14th century, the remains of a hinge, or the gates of the long street, the oldest of which bears the date 1422.
Rue de la Tasco is the oldest street in the village. It led to the fort of Gassin, of which a one-story tower remains, with its characteristic rusticated stones typical of medieval military architecture in Provence.

Gassin appears – the village was then called Garcin – in several medieval cartularies: that of La Verne (1190) and that of the Abbey of Saint-Victor of Marseille (1234-1235). Previously, there was a fortified villa at Bourrian and a settlement at Ville Vieille.
Despite the presence of a Templar passage, there is no indication that a Templar establishment ever existed. Some early authors imagined that the square bell tower of the village church, on the hilltop overlooking the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, served as a Templar watchtower.

The settlement in Gassin remained perched high for a long time because insecurity reigned for several centuries. Saracen raids continued well into later years: the pirates left behind dead and enslaved those they captured. Kidnapping became a source of income for the pirates, who sometimes ransomed captives: several families from Gassin were thus reunited, sometimes after captivity lasting several years in North Africa. This was the case of one of the two Magnan brothers, kidnapped and held in Bône.

At the end of the Middle Ages, Saint-Tropez was separated from the lordship of Gassin.

The 1516 land register shows a fortified village built around a single street (the current Rue de la Tasco) and including the castle and a church, surrounded by a suburb.

During the following centuries, the village gradually expanded westward, along the streets of Longue, Tubassière, Rollet de Garcin, Moulin à Huile, and the current Androuno.

The village continued to grow, notably with the hospital to the north and the forge to the south appearing on the 1728 land registry. The fortified enclosure then had two entrances, one to the north, through the New Gate, the other to the west with the Great Gate.

In the 19th century, the fortified town had almost reached its current composition.