Jordi,
Of course you are right about the fact i have been more familiarised with italian instead of spanish, and people form south west must be more with spanish. I know well Italy because i have worked there. When you compare the culture of french people from Lyon to Marseille and when you come to Turin (Torino as you know) for example, there are many similarities which makes me fell like if i was at home, like i was with cousins or something like that. That's what said the writer Curzio Malaparte : we are cousins. When i have been to Spain i have seen some similarities, because i guess all latin populations share common things like slavic, celtic... people do.
I think (but i am not an historian), there has been more communication and exchanges between french and italians rather than spanish.
But we have you and the italians for neighboors, it's not the case the case for you and the italians.
Nico:
Somebody from Nîmes, Montpellier, Narbone, Toulouse, Bordeaux or Dax has had more communication and exchange with the Iberian peninsula.
Somebody from Lyon, Marseille or, of course, Menton and Nice have had more communication and exchanges with Italy.
Somebody from Alsace or Lorraine have had more communication and exchanges with Germany.
Somebody from Paris (and Marseilles, of course) have had more communication with Algiers. ;-)
I would imagine someone from Bretagne or Normandy would probably have had more contact with Great Britain.
Somebody from Perpignan is definitely Catalan and has had more contact with Barcelona. When Barcelona won the Olympic Games (1992) the major rival was Paris and yet Perpignan became a great fiesta. I don't know if they were good French but they certainly were good Catalans.
If you look at the classic choices of foreign languages in France you will find that German is more popular in the north-east, Spanish in the north-west and Italian in the south-east and English everywhere.
Spanish in the south-west (not north-west)
You are quiet right for Nîmes which really looks like a spanish (ooops sorry catalan) place : ferias, bodegas, toreadors from Nîmes go to Spain and vice versa.
That's true about Alsace, and south west, and Normandy. I am not quiet sure about Bretagne which is a friendly place and like to be considered as cousins for welsh and scottish but i don't think they would like to be considered as cousins for english
You'd be surprised at the contacts of Iberians and Catalans with Italians. The major motorway (autoroute) all though the Middle Ages was the Mediterranean Sea and the contacts with Barcelona, Valencia and the Balearic Islands were very important. The Borgia popes (Borja) were from Valencia (Calixtus III and Alexandre VI) and all their documents are in Catalan.
The crown of Aragon had many territories in Italy and, at a time, Naples, Sardinia and Sicily belonged to Aragon and, then, to the Spanish crown.
Southern Italian dialects (Sicilian, for example and more than any other Sardinian with hundreds of words of Catalan origin) have a strong Catalan influence.
You will find quite a few Spaniards on the Mediterranean coast with Italian family names (Genovés, for example) and quite a few Italians with Iberian family names (Catalano, for example).
It was a big yet a small world and Spain has often been nearer Italy than France has (except, of course the French south-east).
I would say all southern Europe has always been a continuum but, at time, the Alps were a much greater barrier than the sea and its ships.
yes the sea has been a very usefull way to travel
Jordi : "When Barcelona won the Olympic Games (1992) the major rival was Paris and yet Perpignan became a great fiesta. I don't know if they were good French but they certainly were good Catalans".
If I were living anywhere in Midi-Pyrénées or Languedoc-Roussillon in 1992, I would have voted for Barcelona too. Sending tourists to Paris instead of having them transiting through Southern France would have been a major economic mistake.
Dear Greg:
I see your point but 95% of them flew to Barcelona airport and didn't move from the place (not even to the rest of Catalonia), except for the southern French of course because those coming from Paris also took the plane.
They were happy in Perpinyà, I never said they were happy in Toulouse. They were probably as sad in Toulouse as they were in Paris but it is a matter of "feelings" and "vitality".
You know, Perpignan's slogan (look it up the Internet) is "Perpinyà la Catalana" and Catalan experiences a major comeback in the Roussillon, Cerdanya, Vallespir area. According to the latest census over 40% of the population of the Rosselló can speak Catalan (although French is the most widely heard language in the region).
Although the Pyrennées Orientales only have 300.000 people and Occitania 14 million, more students (from primary to university) are learning Catalan in French Catalonia than Occitan all through Occitania.
Perpinyà is little more than 200 km. from Barcelona!
Jordi,
That's too bad for France that 95 % tourists flew to Barcelona.
I know you didn't say that they were happy in Toulouse or Montpellier. However, I'm sure there are some people who were equally glad for both Barcelona and Paris. Nothing wrong with that. Barça is a big city neighbouring Southern France. So it's not as stranger as, say, Glasgow or Tirana. I'm sure if Saint-Sébastien (Donostia / San Sebastian) - a Spanish Basque city 20 km away from France - would win the Olympics many French from Bayonne to Bordeaux would rejoice : they are close neighbours.
It's a good thing that Catalanity is prospering in Pyrénées-Orientales (415.000 inhabitants) : PO or 66 will certainly be a good link between Catalonia and Southern France. And Perpignan's region needs some economic perspective. So why not Catalanity indeed if this translates into business growth ?!
I agree, Greg, I agree. The question now is who will host the 2012 Olympic Games, Paris or Madrid?
Never mind as long it is in Europe !
I forgot London is convinced they will host them. It's also in Europe although not "in the continent" as they say.
I'd rather vote Madrid than London...
Madrid 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!