When the paper mill technique passed over from Italy into France, what was most needed for this now flourishing industry ? Essentially water, abundant and pure.

The Sorgue, the river celebrated by Petrarch, was an ideal site for developing the manufacture of this fantastic communication medium. The first paper mill in Provence was set up in Carpentras in 1374, but it was Fontaine de Vaucluse that, in the course of the following centuries, became the most important place of paper production. The moving of the Popes to Avignon, in the beginning of the 14th century, no doubt contributed to the expansion of this production in the region.