No avenue better epitomises Provence’s most graceful city than this fountain-studded street, sprinkled with Renaissance hôtels particuliers and crowned with a summertime roof of leafy plane trees. Named after the revolutionary hero Comte de Mirabeau, it was laid out in the 1640s. Cézanne and Zola hung out at Les Deux Garçons , one of a clutch of busy pavement cafes.
Among the most impressive hôtels particuliers is Hôtel d’Espargnet (1647) at No 38, now home to the university’s economics department. Photography and contemporary art get an airing inside Hôtel de Castillon , now the Galerie d’Art du Conseil Général des Bouches du Rhône .
