French Riviera
French Riviera
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Clockwise from top: a view of Èze with Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat; old town of Saint-Tropez; Monte Carlo Casino in the Principality of Monaco; and the city centre of Nice | |
Coordinates: 43°19′12″N 06°39′54″E / 43.32000°N 6.66500°E | |
Country | France Monaco |
Website | cotedazurfrance |
The French Riviera, known in
Riviera is an Italian word that originates from the ancient Ligurian territory of Italy, wedged between the Var and Magra rivers. The Côte d'Azur (coast of azure) is a nickname given by France to the County of Nice after its annexation in 1860, because the climate was similar to that of the north of Italy, even in winter, with a sky as blue as its sea. When the Mistral (northwest) and the Tramontane (north) winds are blowing in the Languedoc and Provence areas, the temperature of the Mediterranean can be very cool in summer. This phenomenon is observed very little or not at all on the coast between the French Riviera and the Italian Riviera.[2]
After the 2000s, the French Riviera was extended to the rest of Southern France, although the geography, culture, and climate are different.
This coastline was one of the first modern
Officially, the French Riviera is home to 163 nationalities with 83,962 foreign residents,[4] although estimates of the number of non-French nationals living in the area are often much higher.[5] Its largest city is Nice, which has a population of 340,017 as of 2017.[6] The city is the centre of a métropole—Nice-Côte d'Azur—bringing together 49 communes and more than 540,000 inhabitants and 943,000 in the urban area. Nice is home to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, France's third-busiest airport (after Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport), which is on an area of partially reclaimed coastal land at the western end of the Promenade des Anglais. A second airport at Mandelieu was once the region's commercial airport,[7] but is now mainly used by private and business aircraft.[8]
The
Etymology
Origin of term
The term French Riviera comes by analogy with the term
The name Côte d'Azur was given to the coast by the writer Stéphen Liégeard in his book, La Côte d’azur, published in December 1887.[16] Liégeard was born in Dijon, in the French department of Côte-d'Or, and adapted that name by substituting the azure colour of the Mediterranean for the gold of Côte-d'Or.[17]
In
-
Poster by David Dellepiane (1866–1932)
-
Agay, a seaside resort in Saint-Raphaël
-
Cap-Roux and the Corniche d'Or in the calanque of Anthéor, Massif de l'Esterel
Disputes over the extent of the Riviera and the Côte d'Azur
Côte d'Azur and the French Riviera have no official boundaries. Some sources put the western boundary at
In her 1955 novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith describes the Riviera as including all of the coast between Toulon and the Italian border.History
From prehistory to the Bronze Age
The region of the French Riviera has been inhabited since
Stone
Greek influence
Beginning in the 7th century BC,
Roman colonization
In 8 BC the Emperor
Roman towns, monuments and
.Barbarians and Christians
Roman Provence reached the height of its power and prosperity during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. In the mid-3rd century, Germanic peoples began to invade the region, and Roman power weakened.
In the same period, Christianity started to become a powerful force in the region. The first
The fall of the
The Counts of Provence and the House of Grimaldi
Some peace was restored to the coast by the establishment in 879 of a
In the 13th century, another powerful political force appeared, the
In 1388, the city of Nice and its surrounding territory, from the mouth of the Var to the Italian border, were separated from Provence and came under the protection of the
Provence retained its formal independence until 1480, when the last Comte de Provence,
Popularity with the British upper class in 18th and 19th centuries
Until the end of the 18th century, the area later known as the Côte d'Azur was a remote and impoverished region, known mostly for fishing, olive groves and the production of flowers for perfume (manufactured in Grasse).
A new phase began when the coast became a fashionable health resort for the British upper class in the late 18th century. The first British traveller to describe its benefits was the novelist
In 1834, a British nobleman and politician named
Robert Louis Stevenson was a later British visitor who came for his health. In 1882 he rented a villa called La Solitude at Hyères, where he wrote much of A Child's Garden of Verses.
Railway, gambling and royalty
In 1864, six years after Nice became part of France following the Second Italian War of Independence the first railway was completed, making Nice and the Riviera accessible to visitors from all over Europe. One hundred thousand visitors arrived in 1865. By 1874, residents of foreign enclaves in Nice, most of whom were British, numbered 25,000.
In the mid-19th century, British and French entrepreneurs began to see the potential of promoting tourism along the Côte d'Azur. At the time, gambling was illegal in France and Italy. In 1856, the Prince of Monaco, Charles III, began constructing a casino in Monaco, which was called a health spa to avoid criticism by the church. The casino was a failure, but in 1863 the Prince signed an agreement with François Blanc, a French businessman already operating a successful casino at Baden-Baden (southwestern Germany), to build a resort and new casino. Blanc arranged for steamships and carriages to take visitors from Nice to Monaco, and built hotels, gardens and a casino in a place called Spélugues. At the suggestion of his mother, Princess Caroline, Charles III renamed the place Monte Carlo after himself. When the railway reached Monte Carlo in 1870, many thousands of visitors began to arrive and the population of the principality of Monaco doubled.
The French Riviera soon became a popular destination for European royalty. Just days after the railway reached Nice in 1864, Tsar Alexander II of Russia visited on a private train, followed soon afterwards by Napoleon III and then Leopold II, the King of the Belgians.
The
By the end of the 19th century the Côte d'Azur began to attract artistic painters, who appreciated the climate, the bright colors and clear light. Among them were
.Inter-war period, American visitors and decline of the aristocracy
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2022) |
The
Americans began coming to the south of France in the 19th century.
A feature of the French Riviera in the inter-war years was the
While Europe was still recovering from the war and the
While Americans were largely responsible for making summer the high season, a French fashion designer, Coco Chanel, made sunbathing fashionable. She acquired a striking tan during the summer of 1923, and tans then became the fashion in Paris.
During the
The English playwright and novelist
Second World War
When Germany invaded France in June 1940, the remaining British colony was evacuated to Gibraltar and eventually to Britain. American Jewish groups helped some of the Jewish artists living in the south of France, such as Marc Chagall, to escape to the United States. In August 1942, 600 Jews from Nice were rounded up by French police and sent to Drancy, and eventually to death camps. In all about 5,000 French Jews from Nice perished during the war.
Following
Saint-Tropez was badly damaged by German mines at the time of the liberation. The novelist Colette organized an effort to assure the town was rebuilt in its original style.
When the war ended, artists Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso returned to live and work.
Post-war period and late 20th century
The Cannes Film Festival was launched in September 1946, marking the return of French cinema to world screens. The Festival Palace was built in 1949 on the site of the old Cercle Nautique, where the Prince of Wales had met his mistresses in the late 19th century. The release of the French film Et Dieu… créa la femme (And God Created Woman) in November 1956 was a major event for the Riviera, making an international star of Brigitte Bardot, and making an international tourist destination of Saint-Tropez, particularly for the new class of wealthy international travellers called the jet set.
The marriage of American film actress Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier of Monaco on 18 April 1956, attracted world attention once again. It was viewed on television by 30 million people.
During the 1960s, the Mayor of Nice, Jacques Médecin, decided to reduce the dependence of the Riviera on ordinary tourism, and to make it a destination for international congresses and conventions. He built the Palais des Congrès at the Acropolis in Nice, and founded a Chagall Museum and a Matisse Museum at Cimiez. High-rise apartment buildings and real estate developments began to spread.
At the end of August 1997,
Geography
Coastal municipalities
Municipality | Inhabitants (1 January 2018) |
Département |
---|---|---|
Cassis | 7,027 | Bouches-du-Rhône |
La Ciotat | 35,281 | Bouches-du-Rhône |
Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer | 11,580 | Var |
Bandol | 8,404 | Var |
Sanary-sur-Mer | 16,696 | Var |
Six-Fours-les-Plages | 33,665 | Var |
Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer | 5,979 | Var |
La Seyne-sur-Mer | 62,888 | Var |
Ollioules | 13,771 | Var |
Toulon | 176,198 | Var |
La Garde | 25,380 | Var |
Le Pradet | 10,265 | Var |
Carqueiranne | 9,555 | Var |
Hyères | 55,069 | Var |
La Londe-les-Maures | 10,389 | Var |
Bormes-les-Mimosas | 8,223 | Var |
Le Lavandou | 5,981 | Var |
Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer | 689 | Var |
Cavalaire-sur-Mer | 7,499 | Var |
La Croix-Valmer | 3,778 | Var |
Ramatuelle | 2,079 | Var |
Saint-Tropez | 4,103 | Var |
Gassin | 2,586 | Var |
Cogolin | 11,556 | Var |
Grimaud | 4,553 | Var |
Fréjus | 53,786 | Var |
Sainte-Maxime | 14,240 | Var |
Roquebrune-sur-Argens | 14,626 | Var |
Saint-Raphaël |
35,633 | Var |
Théoule-sur-Mer | 1,350 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Mandelieu-la-Napoule | 21,836 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Cannes | 73,965 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Vallauris | 27,072 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Antibes | 72,915 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Villeneuve-Loubet | 15,780 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Cagnes-sur-Mer | 51,411 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Saint-Laurent-du-Var | 28,511 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Nice | 341,032 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat | 1,533 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Beaulieu-sur-Mer | 3,731 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Villefranche-sur-Mer | 5,064 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Èze | 2,225 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Cap-d’Ail | 4,529 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Monaco | 38,100 | — |
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin | 12,824 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Menton | 30,231 | Alpes-Maritimes |
Total (46) | 1,383,588 | — |
Places
Places on the Côte d'Azur (following the broadest definition), following the coast from south-west to north-east, include:
- Cassis
- La Ciotat
- Bandol
- Sanary-sur-Mer
- Six-Fours-les-Plages
- La Seyne-sur-Mer
- Toulon
- Île du Levant)
- Le Lavandou
- Cavalaire-sur-Mer
- Saint-Tropez
- Inland – Grimaud, with Port-Grimaud on the coast
- Sainte-Maxime
- Roquebrune-sur-Argens
- Fréjus and Saint-Raphaël
- Inland – Fayence
- Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel
- Tanneron
- Théoule-sur-Mer
- Mandelieu-la-Napoule
- Inland – Grasse
- Inland – Mougins
- the Îles de Lérins – Île Sainte-Marguerite and Île Saint-Honorat
- Cannes
- Inland – Vallauris
- Inland – Valbonne
- Inland – Sophia-Antipolis
- Golfe-Juan
- Juan-les-Pins
- Antibes
- Inland – Biot
- Villeneuve-Loubet
- Cagnes-sur-Mer
- Inland – Vence
- Inland – Saint-Paul-de-Vence
- Inland – Saint-Jeannet
- Saint-Laurent-du-Var
- Inland – Belvédère
- Nice
- Villefranche-sur-Mer
- Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
- Beaulieu-sur-Mer
- Èze
- Cap d'Ail
- Monte-Carlo)
- Beausoleil
- Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
- Menton
Tourism
Some data related to tourism on the Riviera in 2006:
- More than 14 million tourists
- 52% of customers from abroad
- 65 million nights stayed
- Tourists spending €5 billion
- 75,000 jobs; tourism is 18% of total employment in the Alpes-Maritimes.
- 500,000 tourists in the High Country
- 500,000 delegates
- 3 million admissions to museums and monuments
- More than 45% of tourists come by air
Climate
The French Riviera is mostly subtropical, featuring a Mediterranean climate, with sunny, hot, dry summers and mild winters. Winter temperatures are moderated by the Mediterranean; days of frost are rare. The average daily low temperature in Nice in January is 5.4 °C (41.7 °F); the January average daily low temperature in Toulon is 6.2 °C (43.2 °F). The average high temperature in August in Nice is 28.6 °C (83.5 °F); in Toulon the average daily high temperature is 29.7 °C (85.5 °F)
The Côte d'Azur receives more rainfall annually than Paris (803.3 mm (31.63 in) annually in Nice and 684.8 mm (26.96 in) in Toulon compared with 649.8 mm (25.58 in) in Paris), but the rainy days are much less frequent and the Riviera is considerably sunnier; 111 rainy days a year in Paris compared with 61 days in Toulon and 63 in Nice. Rain is generally more common in the Autumn and Winter months while the summers are drier. Toulon has 2,793 hours of sunshine a year, Nice has 2,668 hours.[28]
Micro-climates exist in these coastal regions, and there can be great differences in the weather between various locations. Strong winds such as the mistral, a cold dry wind from the northwest or from the east, are another characteristic, particularly in the winter. Nice, in particular is surrounded by mountains to the North, protecting it from the Mistral winds making it feel milder on sunny days.
The Sirocco is a southerly wind, coming from the African continent and often felt on the Mediterranean coast of Europe. It is a hot and humid wind, occasionally carrying sand from the Sahara which is then deposited in coastal areas across Southern Europe.
The French Riviera is one of the mildest locations in the world for its latitude, owing to the Gulf Stream which moderates the temperatures in Western Europe, particularly in winter and the warming effect of the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, the region boasts a long growing season and supports the growth of exotic flora such as Citrus Fruits and Palm Trees. Snow is very uncommon in the winters and the long, hot and sunny summers have long been a draw for tourists since the days of British Aristocracy.
Climate data for Nice (1981–2010 averages) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 22.5 (72.5) |
25.8 (78.4) |
26.1 (79.0) |
26.0 (78.8) |
30.3 (86.5) |
36.8 (98.2) |
36.3 (97.3) |
37.7 (99.9) |
33.9 (93.0) |
29.9 (85.8) |
25.4 (77.7) |
22.0 (71.6) |
37.7 (99.9) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 13.1 (55.6) |
13.4 (56.1) |
15.2 (59.4) |
17 (63) |
20.7 (69.3) |
24.3 (75.7) |
27.3 (81.1) |
27.7 (81.9) |
24.6 (76.3) |
21.0 (69.8) |
16.6 (61.9) |
13.8 (56.8) |
19.6 (67.2) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.3 (41.5) |
5.9 (42.6) |
7.9 (46.2) |
10.2 (50.4) |
14.1 (57.4) |
17.5 (63.5) |
20.3 (68.5) |
20.5 (68.9) |
17.3 (63.1) |
13.7 (56.7) |
9.2 (48.6) |
6.3 (43.3) |
12.4 (54.2) |
Record low °C (°F) | −7.2 (19.0) |
−5.8 (21.6) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
2.9 (37.2) |
3.7 (38.7) |
8.1 (46.6) |
11.7 (53.1) |
11.4 (52.5) |
7.6 (45.7) |
4.2 (39.6) |
0.1 (32.2) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
−7.2 (19.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 69.0 (2.72) |
44.7 (1.76) |
38.7 (1.52) |
69.3 (2.73) |
44.6 (1.76) |
34.3 (1.35) |
12.1 (0.48) |
17.8 (0.70) |
73.1 (2.88) |
132.8 (5.23) |
103.9 (4.09) |
92.7 (3.65) |
733 (28.87) |
Average precipitation days | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 61 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 158 | 171 | 217 | 224 | 267 | 306 | 348 | 316 | 242 | 187 | 149 | 139 | 2,724 |
Percent possible sunshine | 54 | 58 | 59 | 56 | 58 | 66 | 74 | 73 | 65 | 55 | 51 | 50 | 60 |
Source: [29] |
Nice and Alpes-Maritimes
Nice and the
Rain can be torrential, particularly in the autumn, when storms and rain are caused by the difference between the colder air inland and the warm Mediterranean water temperature (20–24 °C [68–75 °F]). The rainiest months are September (75.6 millimetres [2.98 in] average rainfall); October (143.9 millimetres [5.67 in]); November (94.3 millimetres [3.71 in]) and December (87.8 millimetres [3.46 in]).[28]
Snow on the coast is rare, falling on average once every ten years. 1956 was exceptional, when 20 cm (7.9 in) blanketed the coast.[28] In January 1985 the coast between Cannes and Menton received 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in). In the mountains, snow is present from November to May.
Var
The département of
The mistral, which brings cold and dry air down from the upper Alpine regions via the
Events and festivals
Several major events take place:
- Monaco and southeast France: Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, January
- Monaco: International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, January / February
- Mandelieu-la-Napoule: La Fête du Mimosa, February
- Nice: Carnival, February
- Menton: Lemon Festival, February
- Tourrettes-sur-Loup: Violet Festival, March
- Monaco: Monte-Carlo Masters, April–May
- Monaco: Formula One Grand Prix race, May
- Grasse; Rose Festival, May
- Cannes Film Market, May
- Nice: Jazz Festival, July
- Juan-les-Pins: Jazz à Juan, late July.
- Grasse: Jasmine Festival, August
- Tall Ships' Race
Painters
The climate and vivid colors of the Mediterranean attracted many famous artists during the 19th and 20th centuries. They included:
- Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947); retired to and died at Le Cannet.
- Roger Broders (1883–1953); Parisian travel poster illustrator.
- Marc Chagall (1887–1985); lived in Saint-Paul-de-Vence between 1948 and 1985.
- Henri-Edmond Cross (1856–1910); discovered the Côte d'Azur in 1883, and painted at Monaco and Hyères.
- St. Tropez and Bandol.
- Raoul Dufy (1877–1953); whose wife was from Nice, painted in the region, including in Nice.
- St. Tropez.
- St. Tropez in 1904. In 1917 he settled in Nice, first at the Hôtel Beau Rivage, then at the Hôtel de la Méditerranée, then at la Villa des Alliés in Cimiez. In 1921 he lived in an apartment in Nice, next to the flower market and overlooking the sea, where he lived until 1938. He then moved to the Hôtel Régina in the hills of Cimiez, above Nice. During World War II he lived in Vence, then returned to Cimiez, where he died and is buried.
- Cap d'Antibes.
- Edvard Munch (1863–1944); visited and painted in Nice and Monte Carlo (where he developed a passion for gambling), and rented a villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1891.
- Pablo Picasso (1881–1973); spent each summer from 1919 to 1939 on the Côte d'Azur, and moved there permanently in 1946, first at Vallauris, then at Mougins, where he spent his last years.
- Auguste Renoir (1841–1919); visited Beaulieu, Grasse, Saint-Raphaël and Cannes, before finally settling in Cagnes-sur-Merin 1907, where he bought a farm in the hills and built a new house and workshop on the grounds. He continued to paint there until his death in 1919. His house is now a museum.
- St. Tropez in 1892, and bought a villa, La Hune, at the foot of citadel in 1897. It was at his villa that his friend, Henri Matisse, painted his famous Luxe, Calme et Voluptéin 1904. Signac made numerous paintings along the coast.
- Yves Klein (1928–1962); a native of Nice, considered an important figure in post-war European art.
- Sacha Sosno (1937–2013); French painter and sculptor who lived and worked in Nice.
See also
References
- ^ "La Côte d'Azur : ça commence et s'arrête où ?". France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (in French). 8 May 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
- ^ "Climat : Tropicalisation des nuits azuréennes". www.meteofrance.fr.
- from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
- ^ INSEE 1999 census
- ^ e.g. Comité Régional du Tourisme Riviera Côte d'Azur.
- ^ Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017 Archived 5 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, INSEE
- ^ Official site: Cannes.aeroport.fr Archived 28 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Official site: Cannes.aeroport.fr Archived 18 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ National 7 website: Nationale7.com Archived 3 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Sirius CCINCA.
- ^ Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency – p.31 CRDP-Nice.net Archived 4 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency, op.cit. p.66
- ^ In English, "Riviera" as a whole is defined as "the coastal strip along the Mediterranean from La Spezia, Italy, to west of Cannes, France". Webster's New World Dictionary of American English, Third College Edition, 1988.
- ^ For example, J. Henry Bennett, Mentone, the Riviera, Corsica and Biarritz as Winter Climates (1862)
- ^ "Vocabolario: Riviera". Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. Istituzionali della Treccani.
- ^ msaldo; admin; yvasovic; yvasovic (23 April 2018). "Cannes Avance - Mini Une fixe - Accueil". www.cannes.com.
- ISBN 2-87678-643-5.
- ^ Larousse, Éditions. "Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne - Côte d'Azur". www.larousse.fr.
- ^ Larousse, Éditions. "Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne - Vacances d'été Summer Holiday". www.larousse.fr.
- ^ Harrap's Standard French and English Dictionary, 1948.
- ^ "Côte d'Azur, côte méditerranéenne française entre Cassis et Menton" ("Côte d'Azur, French Mediterranean coast between Cassis and Menton") in Dictionnaire Hachette encyclopédique (2000), p. 448.
- ^ "Côte d'Azur, Partie orientale du littoral français, sur la Méditerranée, de Cassis à Menton" ("Côte d'Azur, Eastern part of the French coast, on the Mediterranean, from Cassis to Menton"), in Le Petit Larousse illustré (2005), p. 1297.
- ^ Henry de Lumley, La Grande Histoire des premiers hommes europeens, p. 120.
- ^ Aldo Bastié, Histoire de la Provence, Edition Ouest-France, 2001.
- ^ Michael Nelson, Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007.
- ^ "Property in St Jean Cap Ferrat | Houses, Villas, Apartments for sale in St Jean Cap Ferrat". 3 May 2011. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011.
- ^ Hansen, Randall (2014). Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance After Operation Valkyrie, pp. 134-141
- ^ a b c d e France, Meteo. "PREVISIONS METEO FRANCE - Site Officiel de Météo-France - Prévisions gratuites à 15 jours sur la France et à 10 jours sur le monde". www.meteo.fr.
- ^ "1981–2010 Data". July 2012.
Bibliography
History
- Henry de Lumley, La Grand Histoire des premiers hommes européens, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2010 (ISBN 978 2 7381 2386 2).
- Aldo Bastié, Histoire de la Provence, Éditions Ouest-France, 2001.
- Mary Blume, Côte d'Azur: Inventing the French Riviera, Thames and Hudson, London, 1992.
- Patrick Howarth, When the Riviera was Ours, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1977.
- Jim Ring, Riviera, the Rise and Fall of the Côte d'Azur, John Murray Publishers, London, 1988.
- Edouard Baratier (editor), Histoire de la Provence, Editions Privat, Toulouse, 1969 (ISBN 2 7089 1649 1).
Painters
- La Méditerranée de Courbet à Matisse, catalog of the exhibit at the Grand Palais, Paris from September 2000 to January 2001. Published by the Réunion des musées nationaux, 2000.