Cimiez : from The Roman Period to The Belle Epoque

Cimiez District

€  250 per group

Pax. 1 – 8

• Private Tour with Up To 8 Pax
• Duration : 3 hours
• Meeting Place : The tram stop "Gare Thiers"

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THE TOUR AT A GLANCE

During this tour, you can discovery two important historical epochs: the roman antiquity and the Belle Epoque. In fact, the hill of Cimiez was, at the beginning, a precious stone of the crown of the Roman Empire. Two millennia later, in the 19th century, it used to be a highly sought-after resort destination by the English and the Russian aristocracy.

At the 1st century BC, the Roman Emperor Octave Auguste established the new Province of "Alpes Maritimae" and he founded the city of “Cemenelum” that became the capital of this new Province. The Roman Cimiez was a dwelling of about 10 000 inhabitants, with all the facilities of a typical Roman city : boutiques, thermal baths and arenas.

Visiting the site, you can have a clear idea of the Roman greatness and enjoy the peace and the freshness of a beautiful olive grove. 

The tour will follow although the Franciscan monastery dating back to the 16th century, where the masterpieces of the local painter Louis Bréa (1450-1522), one of the great “Primitif” painters of the whole Savoyard state, are preserved. 

In the second part of the tour, walking down the hill, you will discover the edifices built during the "Belle Epoque", a period conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. This was a period characterized by optimism, peace and economic prosperity, and a form of an art responding to this lightheartedness: "Art Nouveau".

It was during this period that the European bourgeois and the aristocracy started to spend their holidays in the French Riviera. You'll discover atypical mansions, houses and the famous Hotel Regina built for the Queen Victoria.