TRAVEL THE WORLD - FONTAINE-DE-VAUCLUSE, FRANCE

Near Avignon is a small village called Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, which we visited in 1999. We took the footpath that runs for perhaps a mile among trees beside the river to a grotto. Here, the river gushes forth from the rock and forms a pool. The village is famous as the home of Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca), the Italian poet who lived from 1304-1374. He was one of the earliest humanists of the Italian Renaissance.