Family ownership of its businesses has always been key to Grasse's success in perfumes

Francis Basin, a war-time hero of the SOE, was born in Grasse and used his genuine background there to avoid arrest.

The French Revolution affected Grasse in many ways. It was a miserable period for the townspeople.

Joseph Nègre was the king of confectioners and the confectioner of kings in the nineteenth century

Thorenc became Grasse's mountain resort in the 1890s, and it still looks quite different from other villages.

One of the great pioneers of photography, Charles Nègre, was born and died in Grasse

A boy from Alsace came to Grasse in 1873 and made a successful living but was always treated as a foreigner.

Grasse's centre boasts only one hotel, compared twenty or more around the town in the Thirties

The great impressionist spent the winter months of 1900 & 1901 in Magagnosc, in the commune of Grasse