Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Belle Époque
The Second Empire (1852-70) brought to the region a revival in all things Provençal, a
movement spearheaded by Maillane-born poet Frédéric Mistral. Rapid economic growth
was another hallmark: Nice, which had become part of France in 1860, became Europe's
fastest-growing city thanks to its booming tourism. The city was particularly popular with
the English aristocracy, who followed their queen's example of wintering on the Riviera's
shores. European royalty followed soon after. The train line reached Toulon in 1856, fol-
lowed by Nice in 1864, the same year work started on a coastal road from Nice to
Monaco.
In neighbouring Monaco the Grimaldi fam-
ily gave up its claim over its former territories
of Menton and Roquebrune in 1861 in ex-
change for France's recognition of its status as
an independent principality. Four years later
Casino de Monte Carlo opened and Monaco
leapt from being Europe's poorest state to one
of its richest.
The Third Republic ushered in the glittering
belle époque, with art nouveau architecture, a whole field of artistic 'isms' including im-
pressionism, and advances in science and engineering. Wealthy French, English, Americ-
an and Russian tourists and tuberculosis sufferers (for whom the only cure was sunlight
and sea air) discovered the coast. The intensity and clarity of the region's colours and light
appealed to many painters.
Greatly affected by the plague of phylloxera in the
1880s, vineyards were replanted but struggled:
France was overproducing and WWI soldiers pre-
ferred red wine to rosé for their rations. With the in-
troduction of AOC labels in the 1930s luck finally
turned for Provençal wines.
WWI & the Roaring Twenties
No blood was spilled on southern French soil during WWI. Soldiers were conscripted
from the region however, and the human losses included two out of every 10 Frenchmen
between 20 and 45 years of age. With its primarily tourist-based economy, the Côte
d'Azur recovered more quickly from the postwar financial crisis than France's more in-
dustrial north.
The Côte d'Azur sparkled as an avant-garde centre in the 1920s and 1930s, with artists
pushing into the new fields of cubism and surrealism, Le Corbusier rewriting the architec-
tural textbook and foreign writers thronging to the liberal coast.
The coast's nightlife gained a reputation for being cutting edge, with everything from
jazz clubs to striptease. Rail and road access to the south improved: the railway line
between Digne-les-Bains and Nice was completed and in 1922, the luxurious
Train Bleu
