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The Gazette · Toulon, Var & beyond

The Gazette: culture, society, entertainment and discoveries

Literature, books, exhibitions, bookshops, concerts, culture, society, entertainment, gastronomy and discoveries from Toulon, the Var and beyond.

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Rising 584 metres above Toulon, Mont Faron is the subject of a major public consultation intended to shape its development towards 2030.
Society AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen36 views

The Faron of tomorrow is being decided today: Toulon asks residents to shape its future

Until 28 August, the city is running a major public consultation on its emblematic mountain, covering access, nature, food, activities, heritage and even the future of the zoo, with initial measures expected in 2027.

It rises 584 metres above Toulon, has watched over the harbour for centuries and belongs to the kind of landscape local residents can almost stop noticing because it is always there. Yet Mont Faron could change significantly in the years ahead. Through “Le Mont-Faron 2030 : imaginons-le ensemble”, Toulon is asking residents and visitors what should be preserved, improved or created. The consultation remains open until 28 August 2026. Behind the questionnaire lies a difficult question: how can the Faron be modernised without losing what makes it exceptional?

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At Avenue 83, La Tête dans les Nuages fills 2,200 square metres with arcade games and immersive attractions just outside Toulon. AI illustration
Entertainment AI-assisted text By Jean-François Callen31 views

La Tête dans les Nuages: the Avenue 83 arcade where adults become children again

Giant arcade machines, Mario Kart, virtual reality, a three-level laser game and team challenges fill 2,200 square metres near Toulon. It is wonderfully tempting — but keeping an eye on the card balance matters almost as much as the high score.

You walk in intending to have a look. Five minutes later, somebody is driving a kart, another person is shooting aliens and the children have already identified three more machines they absolutely need to try. At Avenue 83, La Tête dans les Nuages spreads arcade games and immersive attractions across 2,200 square metres. It feels a little like a funfair transported into the future. Spectacular, family-friendly and dangerously tempting, it comes with one warning: time disappears quickly in an arcade — and money can follow it.

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Thicker and softer than Nice socca, Toulon cade is still served hot from the oven on the city’s markets. AI illustration
Gastronomy AI-assisted text By Jean-François Callen34 views

Cade, the taste of Toulon! dont talk to me about socca

Born from an old connection with Genoese farinata, adopted by Toulon’s shipyard workers and once sold through the streets of Besagne, the chickpea flatbread remains one of the city’s popular symbols. And no, cade is not exactly the same thing as socca.

Four ingredients — chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt — were enough to create one of Toulon’s most familiar tastes. Brought to the harbour through Genoese workers in the early nineteenth century, cade first fed labourers before becoming a market and family tradition. Unlike Toulon’s historic chichi frégi, it has not disappeared: in 2026, it is still being baked over a wood fire on Cours Lafayette. One question nevertheless keeps returning: what exactly makes it different from Nice’s socca?

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Amandine and Drac will meet young comic readers at Charlemagne Toulon on 5 September. AI illustration
Books AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen24 views

In Toulon, back-to-school season comes with comic-book bubbles too

Amandine and Drac will sign books at Charlemagne on 5 September, bringing together Mistinguette, Les Filles au chocolat and La Brigade des cauchemars.

Back-to-school season does not have to be limited to new schoolbags and stationery lists. On Saturday 5 September, Charlemagne Toulon will welcome illustrators Amandine and Drac for an afternoon devoted to children’s comics. Behind the colourful covers of Mistinguette, Les Filles au chocolat and La Brigade des cauchemars lie three very different worlds — and a useful reminder that a love of reading can sometimes begin with a few well-chosen comic panels.

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Pascal Quignard will appear at Médiathèque Chalucet in Toulon on 29 September for the literary event “Accès au sublime”.
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen28 views

Pascal Quignard in Toulon: literature in search of the sublime

The Prix Goncourt winner for Les Ombres errantes will be the guest of the Académie du Var’s formal opening event on 29 September at Médiathèque Chalucet.

A Prix Goncourt winner is coming to Chalucet, not simply for a book signing but for a conversation about literature and the sublime. On 29 September, Pascal Quignard will appear in Toulon at the invitation of the Académie du Var. The author of Tous les matins du monde and Les Ombres errantes continues in 2026 to build a body of work that resists easy classification, moving constantly between fiction, thought, music, memory and poetry.

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Jean-Claude Silbermann, François Carrassan and Bernard Plossu will meet readers in Hyères around L’Entretien de Port-Cros.
Books AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen27 views

On Port-Cros, Jean-Claude Silbermann’s Surrealism becomes a book

François Carrassan and Bernard Plossu have devoted a new volume to the painter and poet who has lived on the island for decades. All three will meet readers in Hyères on 5 September.

An interview recorded on Port-Cros, photographs taken on the same day and one of the surviving historical figures of French Surrealism come together in L’Entretien de Port-Cros, newly published by Les Cahiers de l’Égaré. François Carrassan and Bernard Plossu visit Jean-Claude Silbermann on the island he made his home. On 5 September, all three will meet again for a signing at Charlemagne in Hyères.

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Cameroonian novelist Hemley Boum will appear at Charlemagne Toulon on 25 September to discuss her new novel Nos vies sauvages.
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen27 views

Hemley Boum comes to Toulon as the literary season turns towards Cameroon

The novelist will meet readers at Charlemagne on 25 September to discuss Nos vies sauvages, her new Gallimard novel published on 20 August.

Toulon will soon put a face to this year’s French literary season. On 25 September, Charlemagne bookshop will welcome Hemley Boum for a discussion of Nos vies sauvages, her new novel from Gallimard. The Cameroonian writer once again brings individual lives into contact with the political history of her country. This time, an imprisoned lawyer opens a story about power, corruption, love and resistance.

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Sylvain Prudhomme’s new novel De l’autre côté du lac will be published by Éditions de Minuit on 27 August 2026.
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen45 views

La Seyne-born Sylvain Prudhomme returns with a novel steeped in suspense

The 2019 Prix Femina winner publishes De l’autre côté du lac on 27 August, moving his fiction towards mountains, disappearance and the pull of the wild.

Ten days before publication, De l’autre côté du lac has particular relevance for readers in the Var. Its author, Sylvain Prudhomme, was born in La Seyne-sur-Mer before building a body of work shaped by travel, encounters and changing landscapes. Winner of the Prix Femina in 2019 for Par les routes, he returns on 27 August with a 288-page novel published by Éditions de Minuit, this time set beside a high-altitude lake and a nature reserve closed to humans.

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Man Ray and Martin Parr are the focus of two major photography exhibitions in Toulon this summer. AI illustration
Exhibitions AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen32 views

From Man Ray to Martin Parr, Toulon looks at photography differently

Two summer exhibitions bring Man Ray’s surrealist experimentation into conversation with Martin Parr’s ironic observation of everyday life.

Toulon is hosting an unusual photographic face-off this summer. At the Musée d’Art, Man Ray shows how a camera can be used to invent images rather than merely reproduce reality. A few streets away, Martin Parr turns his distinctly British eye towards beaches, leisure and consumer habits. With both exhibitions still open in August, visitors can explore two radically different approaches to photography separated by almost a century.

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