Marseille soap

Who has never heard of Marseille soap? The famous soap of world renown, with antiallergic virtues, which adapts to all skin types, even to babies, which can clean everything (clothes, floors, walls, etc.). The production of this commodity is a true tradition in the Phocaean city. This goes back to the time of the Gauls and is still perpetuated today.

Many do not know how to differentiate a real "Marseille soap", of traditional manufacture and another bearing this name, but resulting from an industrial production. This short explanation is therefore quite natural. Marseille soap, the real one, is made from vegetable fats, no dye, perfume or any other synthetic element is added. Generally, its color is naturally green, because it consists of 75% vegetable oil.

How is it then that there are so many soaps that say "Marseille" when they do not meet any of these criteria? Well, it is because it is not a controlled designation of origin, to the dismay of the last two traditional soap mills in Marseille, the last survivors of the 48 that existed in the 17th century. At the time, these establishments already produced more than 75,000 tonnes of soap per year.

From the time of Colbert until the end of the Second World War, Marseille was the first soap producer in all of France, so that the name "Marseille soap" had become a common name. Surfing on this wave of popularity was enough for the industrialists to associate the marks of their soap with the name of Marseille and the product flows like rolls. Marseille soap was thus victim of its popularity.

Despite all this, the ancestral know-how is never lost in Marseille. The traditional soaps of the Seraglio and the Horseshoe, the last of their kind, still perpetuate the traditions and are proud to make them known to all. Indeed, they open their doors to the public interested in the artisanal manufacture of the mythical soap Marseille. One can thus visit the rooms of the pots and the fire and the workshop of molding.

Marseille soap is not only used for cleaning, it is a true symbol of the city of Marseille, a witness to the development of the city, an authentic tradition of the Provencal capital. If we were to bring back only one souvenir item after a stay in Marseille, it would certainly be this soap.