Châteauneuf-Villevieille ( oc, Castèunòu e Vilavièlha) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

The village was founded in the Middle Ages by inhabitants of nearby Contes. They were seeking a site sheltered from the instability in the valley at the time. Jean de Revest (?-1347) was the coseigneur (lord) of Châteauneuf. He was a knight, a judge in Avignon (1314), grand judge of Piedmont (1322), judge of appeal of the Kingdom of Sicily (1331), and lieutenant to the seneschal (1340). Born to a family that had been in Nice since the late 13th century, he later moved to Aix. In 1309 or 1310 he married Sybille Chabaud, lady of Châteauneuf and daughter of the noble Boniface Chabaud. The territory of

Bendejun Bendejun () is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department The following is a list of the 163 communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. ...

and Cantaron belonged formerly to the commune. They were separated in 1911 to form separate communes. Formerly called ''Châteauneuf'', the commune was renamed ''Châteauneuf-de-Contes'' in 1961. In 1992, the name was changed again to ''Châteauneuf-Villevieille''.

Geography

It is located north of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, its

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

, in the Férion mountain range.

Population

Sights

At its center is a 12th-century

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...