Aix-en-Provence a UFO in 1981 that is taken seriously by GEIPAN, the department within the French Space Agency responsible for investigating aerospace phenomena. Aix-en-Provence is officially twinned with the following seven cities (in alphabetical order): In addition, Aix has international cooperations, partnerships and exchanges with the following cities from all over the world: Aix-en-Provence was the birthplace of: Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (; , ; ), or simply Aix (; medieval Occitan "Aics"), is a city-commune in the south of France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône,
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence of Basses-Alpes was renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Here is an unflattering excerpt from an article called "Basse Alpes" from the Atlas Larousse published at the beginning of the 20th century: ""Scattered whitish rocks stand out like bones, a thin topsoil where bushes languish, some mountain flowers and stunted trees ... these mountains form almost everywhere a dreadful desert which will not have more inhabitants: this is the Sahara without the sun of Africa, with the snows of Siberia."" (P. Joanne). ""On these steep slopes deforestation and flooding have resulted in a lack of fertile soil and agriculture has been the most miserable.