The Sainte Croix estate was originally a castle built by a local lord during the mid-13th century on the heights of Toulon. The city has always been an active port, and the reasons for establishing itself on the heights of the port were above all strategic. From Mount Faron, it was easier to observe the Mediterranean Sea and thus guard against attacks and other invasions which sowed terror in the port of Toulon below. Despite everything, Toulon has never been a quiet city, and invasions have taken over many of the city's buildings. If the castle of Sainte Croix was often able to escape the pillaging, massacres and destruction which primarily targeted the port and its merchant and war ships, in 1530 the invasion of the Barbarys took them to the top of Mont Faron: the castle was besieged and then destroyed.