Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur second most important city in the region with a city proper population of about 350,000 and an urban population exceeding 1 million. Marseille, with an urban area of 2 million inhabitants, is the largest and capital city of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is also the second most populated city in France, just behind Paris and the city with the third largest metropolitan population in France, behind Paris and Lyon respectively. Along with Nice and Marseille the region is also made internationally popular with Cannes which, though not a large city (population of 73,603 in 2012), hosts the annual Cannes Film
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Festival which has highly popularized the region. Also, Arles has become renowned as the city in which Vincent van Gogh lived and painted 300 paintings. Toulon is a large military harbour on the Mediterranean coast, with the French naval base placed there. It is the capital of the Var department in the region. Also, Aix-en-Provence has long been a university town, and to this day remains the most important educational centre in the region. Below is a list of the most populated cities in the region along with their population (city proper) according to the most recent census. This region