Place des 13 Cantons

The Place des Treize Cantons sits in the heart of Le Panier, Marseille’s oldest neighborhood. You can identify this small square by its narrow, converging streets and the historic atmosphere that characterizes this dense, ancient part of the city. While the name suggests thirteen separate sections, it actually stems from the Provençal word cantoun, meaning a corner. The title originates from a seventeenth-century inn, known as Les Treize Cantouns, which was opened here by a Swiss proprietor when the Swiss Confederation consisted of thirteen cantons.