Saint Jean: the Traboules

Saint Jean is the old quarter of the city, with houses that were build in the XVIth Century, whose architecture is influenced by the Italian one, again because of the proximity of Lyon with Italy. The Traboules are little streets in the entry of buildings that lead to a small schoolyard. The first thing that you can think when you see them is that they are very narrow, and this fact actually had a lot of importance in the use that people made from it: it is quite easy to hide there. During the Second World War, some Resistance networks were organised there, and it is still nowadays a place with a culture of civil desobedience.