DOLCEACQUA, Ligurie

L'étrange petit joyau d'une vallée ligure

Perched on a hill in a narrow valley of Liguria, Dolceacqua is a stunning medieval village. Its name means 'freshwater' ['acqua dolce' in Italian]. The clear waters of the Nervia River form a bend at the foot of the hill crowned with an imposing castle. Seen from a distance, there is nothing particularly unusual, as others Mediterranean sites are no less different. Yet, once you start walking into the historic part known as 'La Terra' – and there is no other way to go – you are literally blown away by what you can see! A maze of narrow alleys – some made of stairs – crisscross the hill, forming at times a sort of tunnel under tall stone houses. A totally disconcerting sight that appears to be unique!

The old bridge over the Nervia River

Encore assez peu connu, voici un site étonnant, situé dans une vallée ligure, à quelques kilomètres seulement au sud de la ville frontière de Vintimille [Vintmiglia].

Capteurs d'eau de pluie

Le nom de ce village de montagne résonne déjà d'un certaine poésie : acqua dolce, « eau douce ». Il est vrai que les eaux claires d'un torrent alpin, la Nervia, serpente au pied de l'éminence où se blottit la petite agglomération médiévale portant le nom de La Terra. On aperçoit le formidable château fort qui la coiffe de très loin (le château des Doria). Cela ne fait qu'attiser la curiosité. Alors, on s'arrête et on découvre un surprenant cadre bucolique au fond de cette vallée de la Nervia. Un large pont de pierre, à la romaine, surplombe la rivière, invitant les visiteurs à le franchir pour s'aventurer dans les dédales d'une cité moyenâgeuse absolument incroyable ! Car, certes, Dolceacqua est véritablement un lieu fabuleux, digne de figurer dans la mémoire d'un conte légendaire. Tel qu'on pourrait l'imaginer en lisant des récits chevaleresques !

Il faut être suffisamment en forme pour parcourir l'extraordinaire

Mystérieux passages

labyrinthe des ruelles de la cité, tantôt couvertes comme autant de tunnels, tantôt gravissant la colline par une envolée d'escaliers. On a peine à imaginer l'existence d'un tel ensemble, dont l'audace architecturale dépasse l'entendement ! À priori, on pourrait croire que l'état des lieux soit un tant soit peu laissé à l'abandon, un peu comme les remparts de la citadelle pointant à la crête. Or, pas du tout, on y découvre une petite communauté de boutiques et de galeries d'art ! En réalité, Dolceacqua a été investie par des artistes, sans doute inspirés par la beauté du lieu. Ainsi, un grand nombre de bâtisses de pierre ont été

Porte en bois rénovée

rénovées. Des portes de bois, clairement refaites, incitent la curiosité du visiteur à en frapper le heurtoir, dans le seul but d'en admirer l'agencement du décor. Fort heureusement, certaines de ces portes sont déjà ouvertes sur des galeries de peintures, laissant apercevoir, par la même occasion, l'architecture intérieure. 

Quelques restaurants et même des maisons d'hôtes accueillent les voyageurs souhaitant s'y poser. Au bas du village, les bords de la rivière sont ombragés, plantés de quelques bancs, et la vaste place communale s'étale devant une belle église baroque (Sant'Antonio Abate) dont l'intérieur reflète la beauté du site.

Dolceacqua, sans nul doute, demeure une tendre découverte, un véritable joyau ligure médiéval tellement inattendu.

Christian Sorand

Dolceacqua

Panorama depuis le château

L'église baroque de Dolceacqua

Placette à une entrée de Terra

Côté rivière

Ruelle principale

Un coin paisible de Terra

Haut du village

Entrée fleurie

Fontaine à une intersection

Bâtisse en haut du village

À la croisée de deux ruelles superposées

Ruelle ouverte en haut de colline

Une boutique du village

Place de l'église

Sant'Antonio Abate

Nef baroque de l'église du XVIIe

Détail du plafond de l'église

Vue générale de Dolceacqua depuis la rivière

Villefranche-sur-Mer (French Riviera)

A captivating village set in a magnificent bay

Villefranche-sur-Mer

The small hillside harbor of Villefranche is truly a picture-perfect jewel of the French Riviera, known to the French as Côte d'Azur.

Villefranche is only a few kilometers away, east of Nice. Hidden deep in its bay, Villefranche is a

A painter's corner

place offering a natural harbor. It has remained a picturesque village set away from the assaults of the pirates of yesteryear or the angry whims of Neptune.

A magnificent bay and a fascinating medieval village remain its best two assets. Villefranche is filled with a great Mediterranean charm.

From Nice to Italy, the coast is known as la Corniche. It is where the Alpine mountain range encounters the blue Mediterranean in a spectacular coastline. The bay of Villefranche is not only naturally protected, but it is also the deepest anchorage in the whole area. Already known to the Greeks and the Romans, it has now become a favorite place for visiting cruise ships and a favorite harbor for the US Navy in the Mediterranean.

Jean Cocteau

The bay is tightly stretching between Mount Boron on the western side and Cap Ferrat, a long and narrow peninsula on the opposite eastern side. The Cape has long been a notorious resort for the rich and wealthy. This is the case with Tina Turner (Villefranche) or Bill Gates (St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat). Roger Moore (1917-2017) was also a former resident. Some of the most extravagant villas on the Riviera have been built there and they still seem to be out of a Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel (1896-1940) like 'Tender is the Night' (1934). Indeed, there is still La Villa Mauresque where the British writer Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) lived at the end of his life. The Renaissance-type Villa & Garden Ephrussi at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is another example of past grandeur. A visit to Villa Kerylos at nearby Beaulieu-sur-Mer, recalls that the Greeks were familiar with the whole area. After all, the Greeks founded the city of Nice in 350 B.C., calling it Nikaia (Νίκαια) in honor of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike (Νίκη).

Protected by an imposing fortress, the old village has remained remarkably authentic. In the Middle

St.-Jean-des-Pêcheurs

Ages, it was granted as a 'free town' (hence its name in French, 'Ville franche'). But its fame suddenly flourished at the turn of the century, when some Parisian or foreign personalities started to settle here either to live or simply on holiday. Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) may have been the top celebrity to help to make it famous. He designed, in particular, a chapel on the harbor seafront (Chapelle Saint-Pierre-des-Pêcheurs). Villefranche is also the place where his movie 'Le Testament d'Orphée' was made.

But since, the natural geography of the place, as well as its relative seclusion, have restrained its development, it has remained one of the most picturesque places on the French Riviera. The colorful house row on the seafront may have inspired Walt Disney, but it remains a great place

At the harbor side

to chill out at a café, sitting right next to the harbor fishing-boats. The old, traditional village with its narrow alleys and hill-stairs is totally deprived of any traffic, making it a visitor's haven. Yet some ignore the existence of a remarkable underway almost entirely covered by old constructions recalling a souk out of the northern coast of Africa rather than the Riviera! A totally unexpected oddity that many simply bypass for ignoring its existence!

What truly makes Villefranche-Sur-Mer so captivating is the fact that it is deprived of all the urban glamor found on other Riviera's resorts like Cannes or Antibes. It has retained the quiet and pleasant atmosphere of a fishing port in spite of it all. 

Christian Sorand

Cocteau & Villefranche:http://villefranche-sur-mer.fr/cocteau-et-villefranche/

A typical hill street

Uphill stairs

Colorful façades on the harbor quay

At the uphill Church square

Down at the fishing harbor

Town architecture

A hidden street passage

Light pit among ancient houses

Another covered alley

Partial view of the Bay of Villefranche

Lost in time: a tour of La Roquette in Arles

Arles - The Rhône River

Arles is a city, where the Rhône River opens into a delta. The island is home to a natural reserve named the Camargue.

Arles is also mentioned as a site of the Unesco World Heritage for its Roman and Romanesque Monuments [Unesco,Arles]. Besides being a charming, historical city, it is also known for its bull games that Picasso used to attend, its Provençal tradition, its summer festival, and also for its world-known international festival of photography called 'Les Rencontres d'Arles'. More recently, it has also been in the limelight for the construction of a cultural center designed by Frank Gehry and sponsored by a local Swiss philanthropist, Maja Hoffmann. Arles is the place where Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was set to work on his most famous paintings. The female local costume of L'Arlésiennehas inspired music classical masters like Georges Bizet (1838-1875) or Charles Gounod (1818-1893). Arles is also the hometown of the former photographer Lucien Clergue (1934-2014) and the designer Christian Lacroix.

In medieval times, the city of Arles was enclosed behind a wall, which remains partially visible

A typical house front

today. But there is still more to the city life. The river neighborhood of La Roquette is slowly becoming a more fashionable area. A maze of picturesque narrow streets and alleys seems to lead the visitor into an entirely different atmosphere, where time, urban noise and community life seem to belong to another dimension.

On the southern side of town, and still near the riverbank, there is a whole section of town that was once home to mariners or other professions, linked to the fluvial activity. 

For centuries, this area was considered as a low-class neighborhood, but at the turn of the century, things started to change. A group of young professionals in search of an opportunity to renovate former houses at an affordable price decided to settle in this part of town. They saw the potential of La Roquette with its many outstanding façades waiting for a facelift. The area also keeps former mansions with a garden. A Boutique hotel (Hôtel de Charme in French) opened [L'Hôtel Particulier]. La rue des Porcelets, a short narrow street that connects the downtown Place Antonelleto rue de La Roquette was progressively revamped as new tiny restaurants or cafés started to replace the former shops. This street leads to a V-shaped, shaded square, known as Place Paul Doumer. It used to be a local morning market-place. It has now become a new heaven for cafés.

La Roquette- a picturesque
alley

Then a small local theater opened near the Rhône embankment [Théâtre de la Calade]. A former politician, who also had become a city mayor, had renovated an old house where he still lives near the square Paul Doumer. From then onwards, the whole area slowly grew in popularity, particularly among hipsters, who wanted to renovate old, stylish houses to turn them into a trendy place to live. 

This process is still going on today. La Roquette has now been greatly embellished. It keeps the feel of a Mediterranean village. Many of the former gray façades have now a brighter look. Wandering through the narrow streets with almost no traffic, the prevalent feeling you get is one of calm and everlasting charm. There are plants and flowers everywhere brightening up everything even in the less affluent sections because it still remains mixed populated neighborhood. Many house doors have been tastefully revived, and some display interesting knockers. It has the feel

A fish knocker

of a Mediterranean village with an atmosphere that strangely seems to be lost in time. It has kept a cultural touch, making it unique as well. There are many house corner niches, still having an original sculpture. They were built by the owners as ex-voto sculptures and were often emptied after the family had left.

Needless to say that the best way to discover the neighborhood is to walk aimlessly along its streets and alleys. This can be confusing to some, but the area is not really big enough to be completely lost. All you have to do is to get back to rue de la Roquette, that crosses the whole area.

A walking tour of La Roquette adds another dimension to the visit of Arles. Its village atmosphere is encompassing. It seems that the heart of an authentic life is still beating there quietly.

Christian Sorand

House at two street corners

A piece of local humor!

A modest house row

An alley

House-door

A classic door-knocker

Street vines

One of the many niches

A more wealthy façade

A quiet cul-de-sac

Another fish door-knocker

A more wealthy façade

D'Autriche et de France

Ces reines de la cour de France venues d'Autriche

On oublie parfois que des liens étroits ont souvent jalonnés l'histoire entre la famille royale française et celle de l'Autriche. 

Il suffit pourtant de tourner les pages d'un récit du passé pour se souvenir qu'un grand nombre de reines de France étaient issues de la famille royale autrichienne.

Marguerite d'Autriche
par Bernard van Orley

La première de cette lignée fut la malheureuse Marguerite d'Autriche (1480-1530). Archiduchesse, elle fut un temps la fiancée de Charles VIII (1470-1498), qui, pour des raisons politiques, devint l'époux d'Anne de Bretagne. 

Eléonore d'Autriche par
Joos Van Cleeve

À la Renaissance, Eléonore d'Autriche (1498-1558) fut la seconde épouse de François I (1494-1547).

Élisabeth d'Autriche
par F.Clouet

L'archiduchesse Elisabeth d'Autriche (1554-1592) épousa Charles IX (1550-1574). De leur union naquit une fille, Marie-Elisabeth de France.

Anne d'Autriche par Rubens

Anne d'Autriche (1601-1666), Infante d'Espagne et Archiduchesse, bien qu'espagnole de naissance, épousa Louis XIII (1601-1643) et devint régente de France (de 1643 à 1651) à la mort de son époux. 

Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche
 par Velazquez

Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche (1638-1683), Infante d'Espagne et Archiduchesse d'Autriche, née à la cour espagnole, devint l'épouse de Louis XIV (1638-1715) et devint brièvement régente de France en 1672, pendant la guerre de Hollande.

Marie-Antoinette d'Autriche

À la fois aimée et haïe, l'archiduchesse Marie-Antoinette d'Autriche (1755-1793), mariée à Louis XVI (1754-1793) fut tristement célèbre et mourut sur l'échafaud, à la place de la Concorde, durant la Révolution française après avoir été emprisonnée à la Conciergerie.

Marie-Louise d'Autriche
par Robert Lefèvre

Enfin, l'Empereur Napoléon I (1769-1821) épousa en grande pompe, en deuxième noce, Marie-Louise d'Autriche (1791-1847). Ils eurent un héritier, le Roi de Rome (1811-1832), qui disparut mystérieusement au cours d'une visite au palais des Habsbourg à Vienne.

Mariage de Napoléon I et de Marie-Louise par Georges Rouget

Un certain nombre d'ouvrages historiques commémorant plusieurs de ces reines, ont déjà été publiés en librairie :

Extrait du livre sur Éléonore d'Autriche

Autre ouvrage sur
Éléonore d'Autriche

Anne d'Autriche

Premier ouvrage sur
Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche

Second ouvrage sur
Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche