French Riviera

File:Port Hercules, Monaco.jpg, Monaco]]

The term French Riviera comes by analogy with the term Italian Riviera, which extends east of the French Riviera (from Ventimiglia to La Spezia).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. As early as the 19th century, the British referred to the region as the Riviera or the French Riviera, usually referring to the eastern part of the coast, between Monaco and the Italian border.For example, J. Henry Bennett, Mentone, the Riviera, Corsica and Biarritz as Winter Climates (1862) Riviera is an Italian noun which means "coastline".{{Cite web|title=Vocabolario: Riviera|work=Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti|publisher=Istituzionali della Treccani|url=http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/riviera/|access-date=15 June 2013|archive-date=19 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119104824/http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/riviera/|url-status=live}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.cannes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=387&Itemid=2457587|title=Cannes Avance - Mini Une fixe - Accueil|last1=msaldo|last2=admin|last3=yvasovic|last4=yvasovic|date=23 April 2018|website=www.cannes.com|access-date=1 June 2009|archive-date=8 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708114245/http://www.cannes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=387&Itemid=2457587|url-status=live}} 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.Marc Boyer, L'Invention de la Côte d'Azur : l'hiver dans le Midi, préface de Maurice Agulhon, 378 pages, Édition de l'Aube, 2002, {{ISBN|2-87678-643-5}}.

In Occitan (Niçard and Provençal) and French, the only usual names are Còsta d'Azur in Occitan and Côte d'Azur in French.{{cite web|url=http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/autre-region/C%C3%B4te_dAzur/114833|title=Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne - Côte d'Azur|first=Éditions|last=Larousse|website=www.larousse.fr|access-date=2 January 2012|archive-date=22 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722165707/https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/autre-region/C%c3%b4te_dAzur/114833|url-status=live}} A term like "French Riviera" (Ribiera Francesa in Occitan, Riviera Française in French) would only be used in literal translation, or adaptations of it. For instance, in French, "Riviera Française" is found in the online Larousse encyclopedia{{cite web|url=http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/Vacances_d%C3%A9t%C3%A9/10308|title=Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne - Vacances d'été Summer Holiday|first=Éditions|last=Larousse|website=www.larousse.fr|access-date=2 January 2012|archive-date=16 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116144834/http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/Vacances_d%C3%A9t%C3%A9/10308|url-status=live}} to refer to the holidays of a group of English workers (moreover, in Occitan, the word ribiera "coastline" mostly works as a common name, whereas in French, the old-fashioned term Rivière de Gênes was used to refer to the Italian Riviera whose center is Genoa).Harrap's Standard French and English Dictionary, 1948.

File:Dellepiane-Côte-d'Azur.jpg|Poster by David Dellepiane (1866–1932)

File:Coted'Azur-Beaulieu-France.JPG|The French riviera between Beaulieu-sur-Mer and Cap-d'Ail, as seen from Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

File:Agay vu du Dramont.JPG|Agay, a seaside resort in Saint-Raphaël

File:Calanque du Petit Canereit-Massif de l'Esterel.jpg|Cap-Roux and the Corniche d'Or in the calanque of Anthéor, Massif de l'Esterel

File:Menton BW 0.JPG, which is the last town on the Côte d'Azur before the Italian border]]

Côte d'Azur and the French Riviera have no official boundaries. Some sources put the western boundary at Saint-Tropez. Others include Saint Tropez, Hyères or Toulon in the Var (departement), or as far as Cassis in the Bouches-du-Rhône departement."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. 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.

{{Main|History of Provence}}

The region of the French Riviera has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Primitive tools dating to between 1,000,000 and 1,050,000 years ago were discovered in the Grotte du Vallonnet, near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, with stones and bones of animals, including bovines, rhinoceros, and bison. At Terra Amata (380,000 to 230,000 years ago), near the Nice Port, a fireplace was discovered that is one of the oldest found in Europe.Henry de Lumley, La Grande Histoire des premiers hommes europeens, p. 120.

Stone dolmens, monuments from the Bronze Age, can be found near Draguignan, while the Valley of Marvels (Vallée des Merveilles) near Mount Bégo, at {{convert|2000|m|ft|abbr=on}} elevation, is presumed to have been an outdoor religious sanctuary, having over 40,000 drawings of people and animals, dated to about 2000 BC.Aldo Bastié, Histoire de la Provence, Edition Ouest-France, 2001.

Beginning in the 7th century BC, Greek sailors from Phocaea in Asia Minor began to visit and then build emporia along the Côte d'Azur. Emporia were started at Olbia (Hyères); Antipolis (Antibes) and Nikaia (Nice). These settlements, which traded with the inhabitants of the interior, became rivals of the Etruscans and Phoenicians, who also visited the Côte d'Azur.

In 8 BC, the Emperor Augustus built an imposing trophy monument at La Turbie (the Trophy of the Alps or Trophy of Augustus) to mark the pacification of the region.

Roman towns, monuments and amphitheatres were built along the Côte d'Azur and many still survive, such as the amphitheatre and baths at Cimiez, above Nice, and the amphitheatre, Roman walls and other remains at Fréjus.

File:Frejus Cathedral Baptistery.jpg, which is still in use]]

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 cathedrals were built in the 4th century, and bishoprics were established: in Fréjus at the end of the 4th century, Cimiez and Vence in 439, and Antibes in 442. The oldest Christian structure still in existence on the Côte d'Azur is the baptistery of Fréjus Cathedral, built at the end of the 5th century, which also saw the founding of the first monastery in the region, Lerins Monastery on an island off the coast at Cannes.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the first half of the 5th century was followed by invasions of Provence by the Visigoths, the Burgundians and the Ostrogoths. There was then a long period of wars and dynastic quarrels, which in turn led to further invasions by the Saracens and the Normans in the 9th century.

Some peace was restored to the coast by the establishment in 879 of a new kingdom of Provence, ruled first by the Bosonids dynasty (879–1112), then by the Catalans (1112–1246), and finally by the Angevins (1246–1382, elder branch, 1382–1483 (younger branch).

File:Grimaud IV-03-04-2005-010.jpg, near Saint-Tropez]]

In the 13th century, another powerful political force appeared, the House of Grimaldi. Descended from a Genoese nobleman expelled from Genoa by his rivals in 1271, members of the different branches of the Grimaldis took power in Monaco, Antibes and Nice, and built castles at Grimaud, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes. Albert II, the current Prince of Monaco, is a descendant of the Grimaldis.

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 House of Savoy. The territory was called the Comté de Nice after 1526, and thereafter its language, history and culture were separate from those of Provence until 1860, when it was re-attached to France under Napoleon III.

Provence retained its formal independence until 1480, when the last Comte de Provence, René I of Naples, died and left the Comté to his nephew, Charles du Maine, who in turn left it to Louis XI of France. In 1486, Provence formally became part of France.

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 Tobias Smollett, who visited Nice in 1763 when it was still an Italian city within the Kingdom of Sardinia. Smollett brought Nice and its warm winter climate to the attention of the British aristocracy with Travels through France and Italy, written in 1765. At about the same time, a Scottish doctor, John Brown, became famous for prescribing what he called climato-therapy, a change in climate, to cure a variety of diseases including tuberculosis, known then as consumption. The French historian Paul Gonnet wrote that, as a result, Nice was filled with "a colony of pale and listless English women and listless sons of nobility near death".

In 1834, a British nobleman and politician named Henry Peter Brougham, First Baron Brougham and Vaux, who had played an important part in the abolition of the slave trade, travelled with his unwell daughter to the south of France, intending to go to Italy. A cholera epidemic in Italy forced him to stop at Cannes, where he enjoyed the climate and scenery so much that he bought land and built a villa. He began to spend his winters there and, owing to his fame, others followed: Cannes soon had a small British enclave.

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.

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.

File:4859 VER5137 Revelation studios.jpg in Cap-Saint-Jean-Ferrat was built in 1905–1912 by Beatrice de Rothschild, of the Rothschild family.]]

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.

File:Monument reine Victoria.jpg

Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor. In 1882 she stayed in Menton, and in 1891 spent several weeks at the Grand Hotel at Grasse. In 1892 she stayed at the Hotel Cost-belle in Hyères. In successive years from 1895 to 1899 she stayed in Cimiez in the hills above Nice. First, in 1895 and 1896, she patronised the Grand Hôtel, while in later years she and her staff took over the entire west wing of the Excelsior Hôtel Régina, which had been designed with her needs specifically in mind (part of which later became the home and studio of the renowned artist Henri Matisse). She travelled with an entourage of between sixty and a hundred, including chef, ladies in waiting, dentist, Indian servants, her own bed and her own food.Michael Nelson, Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007.

The Prince of Wales was a regular visitor to Cannes, starting in 1872. He frequented the Club Nautique, a private club on the Croisette, the fashionable seafront boulevard of Cannes. He visited there each spring for a two-month period, observing yacht races from shore while the royal yacht, Britannia, was sailed by professional crewmen. After he became King in 1901, he never again visited the French Riviera.

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 Auguste Renoir, who settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer and in Mougins, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

{{More references|section|date=January 2022}}

The First World War brought down many of the royal houses of Europe and altered the nature and the calendar of the French Riviera. Following the war, greater numbers of Americans began arriving, with business moguls and celebrities eventually outnumbering aristocrats. The 'High Society' scene moved from a winter season to a summer season.

Americans began coming to the south of France in the 19th century. Henry James set part of his novel The Ambassadors on the Riviera. James Gordon Bennett Jr., the son and heir of the founder of the New York Herald, had a villa in Beaulieu. Industrialist John Pierpont Morgan gambled at Monte Carlo and bought 18th-century paintings by Fragonard in Grasse – shipping them to the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

A feature of the French Riviera in the inter-war years was the Train Bleu, an all first-class sleeper train which brought wealthy passengers down from Calais. It made its first trip in 1922, and carried Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham, and the future King Edward VIII over the years.

While Europe was still recovering from the war and the American dollar was strong, American writers and artists started arriving on the Côte d'Azur. Edith Wharton wrote The Age of Innocence (1920) at a villa near Hyères, winning the Pulitzer Prize for the novel (the first woman to do so). Dancer Isadora Duncan frequented Cannes and Nice, but died in 1927 when her scarf caught in a wheel of the Amilcar motor car in which she was a passenger and strangled her. The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald first visited with his wife Zelda in 1924, stopping at Hyères, Cannes and Monte Carlo – eventually staying at Saint-Raphaël, where he wrote much of The Great Gatsby and began Tender Is the Night.

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 abdication crisis of the British Monarchy in 1936, Wallis Simpson, the intended bride of King Edward VIII, was staying at the Villa Lou Viei in Cannes, talking with the King by telephone each day. After his abdication, the Duke of Windsor (as he became) and his new wife stayed at the Villa La Croë on the Cap d'Antibes.

The English playwright and novelist Somerset Maugham also became a resident in 1926, buying the Villa La Mauresque toward the tip of Cap Ferrat, near Nice.{{Cite web|url=http://www.estatenetfrance.com/St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat/areaguide/details/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503125001/http://www.estatenetfrance.com/St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat/areaguide/details/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-05-03|title=Property in St Jean Cap Ferrat | Houses, Villas, Apartments for sale in St Jean Cap Ferrat|date=3 May 2011}}

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 D-Day in Normandy, Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil), the code name for the Allied invasion of Southern France, commenced on 15 August 1944, when American parachute troops landed near Fréjus, and a fleet landed 60,000 troops of the American Seventh Army and French First Army between Cavalaire and Agay, east of Saint-Raphaël. German resistance was not as fanatical as Hitler and the High Command had ordered, and crumbled in days.Hansen, Randall (2014). Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance After Operation Valkyrie, pp. 134-141

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.

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.

At the end of August 1997, Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed spent their last days together on his father's yacht off Pampelonne Beach near Saint-Tropez{{cn|date=November 2022}}, shortly before they died in the Alma Tunnel in Paris.

File:Côte d’Azur map.png

File:Cap Ferrat-Plage la Paloma.jpg; Plage la Paloma, a beach on the Côte d'Azur]]

File:Cannes promenade.jpg]]

File:Saint-Jeannet 02.jpg]]

File:Port-Porquerolles.jpg, an island in Var]]

File:Massif de l'Esterel-Saint Raphael.jpg]]

File:S-Tropes-001.jpg]]

Mareterra District in Monaco: In December 2024, Monaco unveiled the Mareterra district, a six-hectare eco-friendly extension featuring luxury residences and public spaces. This project underscores Monaco's commitment to sustainable urban expansion. FINANCIAL TIMES{{Cite news |last=Roux |first=Caroline |date=2024-11-22 |title=Mareterra takes Monaco into new waters |url=https://www.ft.com/content/8cec850d-df7a-4cc8-8b50-43290443bca6 |access-date=2025-01-06 |work=Financial Times}}

Port Grimaud Modernization Concerns: Residents of Port Grimaud have expressed apprehensions regarding proposed modernization plans, fearing potential disruptions to the area's tranquil ambiance. This situation highlights the ongoing debate between development and preservation along the Riviera.{{Cite web |last=Paris |first=David Chazan |date=2024-08-16 |title=Riviera beauty spot says 'non' to St Tropez's superyachts |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/riviera-beauty-spot-says-non-to-st-tropezs-superyachts-3rztmfk89 |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=The Times |language=en}}

Places on the Côte d'Azur (following the broadest definition), following the coast from south-west to north-east, include:

{{Div col|colwidth=24em}}

• Cassis
• La Ciotat
• Bandol
• Sanary-sur-Mer
• Six-Fours-les-Plages
• La Seyne-sur-Mer
• Toulon
• Hyères and the Îles d'Hyères (Porquerolles, Port-Cros and 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
• Monaco (including Monte-Carlo)
• Beausoleil
• Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
• Menton

{{div col end}}

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
• Winter Tourism Resurgence: Traditionally a winter destination, the French Riviera is witnessing a revival in off-season tourism. Luxurious hotels such as The Maybourne Riviera and Hôtel du Couvent are attracting visitors year-round, offering a blend of historical charm and modern amenities. VOGUE{{Cite web |last=Maitland |first=Hayley |date=2024-10-07 |title=Where to Stay—And What to Do—On the French Riviera This Winter |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/french-riviera-winter-guide |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Vogue |language=en-US}}

South of France Rail Pass: The introduction of a new rail pass offers unlimited travel across the region, improving accessibility for tourists and residents alike.{{Cite web |last=Rutherford |first=Tristan |date=2024-07-04 |title=10 new reasons to visit the French Riviera |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/france/whats-new-in-the-south-of-france-2024-klszzs9hr |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=The Times |language=en}}

Île St Honorat: This serene island, home to monks and vineyards, has become a focal point for nature enthusiasts, reflecting the region's dedication to preserving its natural heritage.

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 {{convert|5.4|C|F}}; the January average daily low temperature in Toulon is {{convert|6.2|C|F}}. The average high temperature in August in Nice is {{convert|28.6|C|F}}; in Toulon the average daily high temperature is {{convert|29.7|C|F}}

The Côte d'Azur receives more rainfall annually than Paris ({{convert|803.3|mm|abbr=on}} annually in Nice and {{convert|684.8|mm|abbr=on}} in Toulon compared with {{convert|649.8|mm|abbr=on}} 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.

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.

{{Weather box

|location = Nice (1981–2010 averages)

|metric first = yes

|single line = yes

|Jan record high C= 22.5

|Feb record high C= 25.8

|Mar record high C= 26.1

|Apr record high C= 26.0

|May record high C= 30.3

|Jun record high C= 36.8

|Jul record high C= 36.3

|Aug record high C= 37.7

|Sep record high C= 33.9

|Oct record high C= 29.9

|Nov record high C= 25.4

|Dec record high C= 22.0

|year record high C=

| Jan high C = 13.1

| Feb high C = 13.4

| Mar high C = 15.2

| Apr high C = 17

| May high C = 20.7

| Jun high C = 24.3

| Jul high C = 27.3

| Aug high C = 27.7

| Sep high C = 24.6

| Oct high C = 21.0

| Nov high C = 16.6

| Dec high C = 13.8

|year high C =

| Jan mean C =

| Feb mean C =

| Mar mean C =

| Apr mean C =

| May mean C =

| Jun mean C =

| Jul mean C =

| Aug mean C =

| Sep mean C =

| Oct mean C =

| Nov mean C =

| Dec mean C =

|year mean C =

| Jan low C = 5.3

| Feb low C = 5.9

| Mar low C = 7.9

| Apr low C = 10.2

| May low C = 14.1

| Jun low C = 17.5

| Jul low C = 20.3

| Aug low C = 20.5

| Sep low C = 17.3

| Oct low C = 13.7

| Nov low C = 9.2

| Dec low C = 6.3

|year low C =

|Jan record low C= -7.2

|Feb record low C= -5.8

|Mar record low C= -5.0

|Apr record low C= 2.9

|May record low C= 3.7

|Jun record low C= 8.1

|Jul record low C= 11.7

|Aug record low C= 11.4

|Sep record low C= 7.6

|Oct record low C= 4.2

|Nov record low C= 0.1

|Dec record low C= -2.7

|year record low C=

| Jan precipitation mm = 69.0

| Feb precipitation mm = 44.7

| Mar precipitation mm = 38.7

| Apr precipitation mm = 69.3

| May precipitation mm = 44.6

| Jun precipitation mm = 34.3

| Jul precipitation mm = 12.1

| Aug precipitation mm = 17.8

| Sep precipitation mm = 73.1

| Oct precipitation mm = 132.8

| Nov precipitation mm = 103.9

| Dec precipitation mm = 92.7

|year precipitation mm =

| Jan precipitation days = 6

| Feb precipitation days = 5

| Mar precipitation days = 5

| Apr precipitation days = 7

| May precipitation days = 5

| Jun precipitation days = 4

| Jul precipitation days = 2

| Aug precipitation days = 2

| Sep precipitation days = 5

| Oct precipitation days = 7

| Nov precipitation days = 7

| Dec precipitation days = 6

|year precipitation days =

| Jan sun = 158

| Feb sun = 171

| Mar sun = 217

| Apr sun = 224

| May sun = 267

| Jun sun = 306

| Jul sun = 348

| Aug sun = 316

| Sep sun = 242

| Oct sun = 187

| Nov sun = 149

| Dec sun = 139

|year sun =

|Jan percentsun= 54

|Feb percentsun= 58

|Mar percentsun= 59

|Apr percentsun= 56

|May percentsun= 58

|Jun percentsun= 66

|Jul percentsun= 74

|Aug percentsun= 73

|Sep percentsun= 65

|Oct percentsun= 55

|Nov percentsun= 51

|Dec percentsun= 50

|year percentsun=

|source = {{cite web| url=http://climat.meteofrance.com/chgt_climat2/climat_france?89461.path=climatnormales%252FFRANCE| title=1981–2010 Data|date=July 2012}}

|date=July 2012

}}

File:Nice SPOT 1161.jpg

Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes département are sheltered by the Alps. The winds are usually gentle, from the sea to the land, though sometimes the mistral blows strongly from the northwest, or, turned by the mountains, from the east. In 1956 a mistral from the northwest reached {{convert|180|km/h|mph}} at Nice Airport.{{cite web|url=http://www.meteo.fr/|title=PREVISIONS METEO FRANCE - Site Officiel de Météo-France - Prévisions gratuites à 15 jours sur la France et à 10 jours sur le monde|first=Meteo|last=France|website=www.meteo.fr|access-date=26 January 2017|archive-date=12 May 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010512210904/http://www.meteo.fr/|url-status=live}} Sometimes, in summer, the sirocco brings high temperatures and reddish desert sand from the Sahara (see Winds of Provence).

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 ({{convert|20|-|24|C|disp=sqbr}}). The rainiest months are September ({{convert|75.6|mm|disp=sqbr}} average rainfall); October ({{convert|143.9|mm|disp=sqbr}}); November ({{convert|94.3|mm|disp=sqbr}}) and December ({{convert|87.8|mm|disp=sqbr}}).

Snow on the coast is rare, falling on average once every ten years. 1956 was exceptional, when {{convert|20|cm|in|abbr=on}} blanketed the coast. In January 1985 the coast between Cannes and Menton received {{convert|30|to|40|cm|abbr=on}}. In the mountains, snow is present from November to May.

The département of Var (which includes Saint-Tropez and Hyères) has a climate slightly warmer, drier and sunnier than Nice and Alpes-Maritimes, but is less sheltered from the wind.

The mistral, which brings cold and dry air down from the upper Alpine regions via the Rhône valley and extends with diminishing intensity along the Côte d'Azur, blows frequently during the winter. Strong winds blow for about 75 days a year in Fréjus.

Several major events take place:

• Monaco and southeast France: Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, JanuaryFile:Barrichello 2009 Monaco GP 1.jpg race]]
• 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: Cannes Film Festival and Cannes Film Market, May
• Nice: Jazz Festival, July
• Juan-les-Pins: Jazz à Juan, late July.
• Grasse: Jasmine Festival, August
• Toulon: Toulon Tournament, Tall Ships' Race
• [https://www.ironman.com/emea-open-2025 IRONMAN 70.3 Races], May

File:Paul Signac - The Port of Saint-Tropez - Google Art Project.jpg, The Port of Saint-Tropez, oil on canvas, 1901]]

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.
• Maurice Denis (1870–1943); painted at St. Tropez and Bandol.
• Raoul Dufy (1877–1953); whose wife was from Nice, painted in the region, including in Nice.
• Albert Marquet (1873–1947); painted at St. Tropez.
• Henri Matisse (1869–1954); first visited 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.
• Claude Monet (1840–1927); visited Menton, Bordighera, Juan-les-Pins, Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes, Beaulieu and Villefranche, and painted a number of seascapes of Cap Martin, near Menton, and at 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-Mer in 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.
• Paul Signac (1863–1935); visited 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 Volupté in 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.

{{commons}}

{{wikivoyage|French Riviera}}

• Gardens of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
• Southern France
• Portuguese Riviera
• Turkish Riviera
• Riviera

{{Reflist}}

• 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}}).

• 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.

{{Authority control}}

Category:Seaside resorts in France

Category:Coasts of France

Category:Landforms of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Category:Ligurian Sea