The Secret Economy of the French Riviera

 

There is a version of the French Riviera that is very easy to see.

It is the version of superyachts sitting in the ports, luxury villas behind gates, Michelin-starred restaurants, designer boutiques, five-star hotels, glamorous beach clubs and sports cars winding their way along the coast. It is the Riviera that appears on Instagram, in travel magazines and in promotional campaigns selling the dream of the Côte d’Azur to the rest of the world.

But after living here long enough, you begin to notice another Riviera, one that is considerably less glamorous but arguably just as interesting.

It is the Riviera of people getting on the bus at 7:30 in the morning, the person carrying a laptop onto the train, the chef heading into a restaurant before lunch service, the cleaner arriving at an apartment building with a bag of cleaning supplies, the lawyer rushing toward an appointment, the hotel employee finishing a night shift, the student with a backpack, the gardener loading equipment into a van, the entrepreneur working from a café and the yacht crew member heading toward a marina.

This is the Riviera that tourists often don’t see (or do), yet it is enormous and it is what keeps the region functioning day after day.

Living on the Côte d’Azur, if you’re an observant people watcher like I am, public transportation or just going for a walk becomes a rather interesting place. Whenever I’m on a bus or train and have some time on my own, I will sometimes try to guess what type of work someone might do. Obviously, this is hardly scientific and I’m probably wrong plenty of the time, but the time of day, the direction someone is travelling, what they are carrying and even the neighbourhood they are heading toward can sometimes provide clues.

Visitors, on the other hand, are often surprisingly easy to pick out. They may be dressed specifically for whatever they have planned that day, watching the scenery go by with that unmistakable expression of someone taking everything in, while simultaneously checking Google Maps and then checking it again to make absolutely certain they haven’t missed their stop. The locals are generally doing something quite different. They’re travelling because they have somewhere they need to be.

That simple distinction says a great deal about life on the French Riviera. There is a tendency, particularly on social media, to talk about the Côte d’Azur as though everyone living here must either be extraordinarily wealthy or have somehow discovered a secret bank account. Someone will inevitably post about how expensive the Riviera is, followed by the inevitable question: “How does anyone actually afford to live there?”

The answer is considerably less glamorous than people might imagine. They work. Just like people do where they probably come from. They work in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools, offices, shops, construction, transportation, technology, finance, real estate, law, tourism, government, healthcare, education, entertainment, yachting and countless other occupations.

They are employees, freelancers, entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, professionals, students and people working remotely. In other words, they are much like the people living almost anywhere else. The difference is that they happen to be doing it beside the Mediterranean.

There Is Far More Than Tourism

Tourism is obviously a huge part of the regional economy, but reducing the Riviera to tourism misses an enormous part of what actually happens here. The Côte d’Azur has developed into a remarkably diverse economic region, with industries ranging from technology and research to finance, healthcare, education, manufacturing, real estate, professional services, aviation, maritime industries and international business.

Take Sophia Antipolis, for example. It is one of the clearest reminders that the Côte d’Azur isn’t simply a place where people come to sit on beaches. The technology and science park has become an important international business and research centre, employing tens of thousands of people across technology, telecommunications, research, engineering, consulting and other industries. There are software developers, engineers, scientists, researchers, project managers, accountants, lawyers, marketing professionals and executives working there alongside countless support businesses. Even Monaco has its own small tech sector.

There are also people running small businesses from home, people working from cafés and entrepreneurs who arrived specifically because they saw an opportunity to build something here. Some have moved from Paris or another part of France, while others have arrived from London, Milan, Geneva, Brussels, North America or elsewhere in Europe. Some may have a global business while others are serving a very local clientele.

This is one of the reasons the Riviera can be deceptive. You can walk past a luxury hotel and assume that tourism is the entire story, yet a few kilometres away you can find technology companies, research facilities, schools, medical centres, industrial businesses and professional offices. The region is far more economically diverse than the postcard suggests. It just doesn’t necessary shout out what is may be.

The Invisible Economy Behind the Luxury

This is where the story becomes particularly interesting. The Riviera has developed an enormous ecosystem of businesses and professionals whose work is often barely noticed by the people benefiting from it.

Consider what happens when someone rents or owns a luxury villa. A guest may arrive, walk through the front door and see an immaculate property with a perfectly prepared kitchen, beautifully maintained garden, sparkling pool and everything apparently in its place. What they don’t necessarily see is the network of people responsible for making that happen.

There may be a property manager coordinating the operation, a concierge arranging the arrival, cleaners preparing the bedrooms, a gardener maintaining the grounds, a pool technician taking care of the equipment, an electrician or plumber dealing with an unexpected problem, a chef preparing dinner, a chauffeur collecting guests from the airport and a personal assistant arranging restaurants, activities, transportation and reservations. There may also be security personnel, maintenance contractors, laundry services, florists, caterers and dozens of other specialists involved at different points.

The same principle applies to the yacht industry. A superyacht sitting in Port Hercules or Port Vauban may appear to be completely self-contained, but behind that yacht is a vast network of people and businesses. There are captains, engineers, deckhands, stewards, chefs, yacht managers, brokers, shipyard workers, mechanics, electricians, provisioning companies, laundry services, accountants, lawyers, insurance professionals, recruitment agencies and countless others who contribute to keeping the industry running.

The owner of the yacht may live thousands of kilometres away, but maintaining, managing and operating that yacht creates economic activity on the Riviera. The same is true of luxury properties. The person who owns the villa may spend only a few weeks here each year, but the property still requires year-round attention.

This is what I mean by the Riviera’s invisible economy. It isn’t invisible because anyone is deliberately trying to hide it. It is invisible because visitors simply don’t think about the people behind the services they receive.

Who Actually Makes the Riviera Work?

The answer is a remarkably long list. Villa managers, rental managers, domestic staff, housekeepers, gardeners, pool technicians, maintenance companies, chauffeurs, security personnel, personal assistants and concierge businesses all form part of this ecosystem. So do yacht crew, yacht brokers, marina employees, shipyard workers, mechanics and maritime specialists.

Then there are the lawyers, notaries, accountants, insurance professionals, architects, interior designers, builders, electricians, plumbers, IT specialists, photographers, event planners, wedding planners, private trainers, beauty professionals, pet-care businesses and food suppliers who support the wider economy.

What makes this particularly interesting is that these businesses aren’t necessarily serving wealthy people exclusively. The electrician who spends the morning fixing lighting in an expensive villa might spend the afternoon repairing an apartment in Nice. The plumber dealing with a problem at a luxury property may be fixing a leak in an ordinary family home the following day. A restaurant chef might prepare dinner for a wealthy international clientele but return home to a perfectly ordinary apartment and live a life that has little resemblance to the people sitting at the tables.

The Riviera’s economy therefore shouldn’t be viewed simply as an economy that exists to serve wealthy people. It is an interconnected economy in which luxury spending is one component, but where the people employed by that economy also spend their money in supermarkets, cafés, restaurants, shops, schools, transport systems and local businesses. Their income becomes part of the wider regional economy.

The Everyday Working Riviera

Perhaps the biggest misconception about living here is that everyone you see enjoying the Riviera is wealthy enough to own a piece of it. That simply isn’t the case.

Someone can live in a relatively modest apartment in Nice and work for an international company in Sophia Antipolis. Someone can rent an apartment in Beaulieu-sur-Mer and work in Monaco. Someone else might live farther inland because housing is more affordable and commute toward the coast every morning. A successful entrepreneur might rent rather than own property. A young professional might share an apartment with friends. A family might have lived in the region for generations.

There are doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, engineers, accountants, retail workers, restaurant employees, mechanics, construction workers, artists, designers, administrative staff, civil servants, researchers, salespeople and business owners. There are people who work for large multinational corporations and others who operate businesses with only one or two employees.

And then there are the people whose jobs are particularly tied to the seasonal nature of the Riviera.

The Seasonal Riviera

The Côte d’Azur attracts a significant number of people who don’t necessarily live here all year. The summer season brings additional workers into hospitality, tourism, yachting, events and luxury services. A yacht crew member may spend the summer season on the Riviera before moving elsewhere in the Mediterranean. A hospitality professional may come for several months and then return home. A sales executive for a major luxury brand may relocate temporarily during an important period of the year. An events specialist may arrive for a particular international event, while a photographer, production company or wedding planner may spend several weeks here working on a specific project.

The same thing happens around Monaco and the major international events that take place throughout the region. Someone may have their permanent home somewhere else in Europe but spend considerable portions of the year on the Côte d’Azur because their company, clients or industry requires them to be here.

The Riviera’s economy is therefore considerably more fluid than simply looking at the number of permanent residents would suggest. People arrive for projects, seasons, contracts, conferences, events and business opportunities, and many return year after year.

The Entrepreneurs Who Come Here to Build Something

One of the most fascinating groups I find to observe is the entrepreneurs. The Côte d’Azur attracts people who have deliberately decided that they want to build something here, and their backgrounds can be remarkably diverse.

Some have moved from Paris or other major French cities. Others have arrived from Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, the United States, Canada and elsewhere. Some are launching technology companies, while others are opening restaurants, creating tourism businesses, establishing consulting firms, working in property, developing lifestyle brands or building businesses connected to yachting and the maritime sector.

But there is an important reality that can easily get lost in the glamour of the region: living somewhere beautiful does not make building a successful business easy.

In fact, operating in a competitive international environment can be incredibly demanding. The people who succeed often develop strong professional networks and understand the importance of reputation, reliability and relationships. A property consultant knows an architect. The architect knows a builder. The builder knows an electrician. The electrician knows a property manager. The property manager knows a concierge company. The concierge knows a chauffeur. The chauffeur knows a restaurant owner. The restaurant owner knows a yacht captain.

That network is part of the Riviera economy too.

A Region That Attracts International Talent

Another interesting characteristic of the Côte d’Azur is how many people arrive here because their company or profession is international. The region’s proximity to Monaco, Italy and other major European business centres makes cross-border work relatively common, while Nice Côte d’Azur Airport provides connections that allow people to live here while maintaining professional relationships elsewhere.

Someone might live in France but work in Monaco. Another person might have an employer based in London but work from the Riviera for part of the year. A business executive might divide their time between Nice, Paris and Milan. Someone working in international finance might regularly travel to Geneva or London. A technology professional could be employed by a multinational company with colleagues scattered across several countries.

The result is a workforce that is often considerably more international than outsiders might expect.

And Then There Are the Students

There is another group that rarely gets included in discussions about who lives on the French Riviera: students.

Universities and higher-education institutions in Nice, Sophia Antipolis and the surrounding region attract students from other parts of France as well as international students. Some come for an exchange semester, some for a year and others for an entire degree programme. Internships also bring young people into the region for periods ranging from a few weeks to several months.

For many, spending a year studying on the Riviera is about much more than obtaining a qualification. It can be an opportunity to experience another culture, improve language skills, live independently, meet people from different countries and develop an international professional network before entering the workforce.

Some students arrive thinking they will stay for a year and discover that they don’t want to leave. Others return home with an international experience that influences the rest of their careers. Either way, they become part of the temporary but constantly changing population that gives the Riviera much of its international character.

Look Around the Next Time You’re on the Train

There is something almost poetic about travelling by train along the coast.

On one side you may see the Mediterranean, yachts and spectacular villas. On the other side are apartment buildings, commercial areas, construction sites, schools and ordinary neighbourhoods. Inside the train are hundreds of completely different lives, all temporarily occupying the same carriage.

Someone may be heading to work at a five-star hotel. Another person may be going to a technology company. Someone may be travelling to a construction site, while another is heading to university. One person may be going to clean an apartment, another to meet a client about buying property and someone else may be travelling to the airport to collect a client. Someone may be returning from a night shift, while another is on their way to open a restaurant.

And, of course, there is always someone who looks as though they have absolutely no idea where they’re going. Which is also perfectly fine. Dreamers also help make up the Riviera.

They also may simply be tourists on the train, which is always a welcome sight.

The Riviera Behind the Riviera

The French Riviera is often presented as a place where the wealthy come to spend money, and there is certainly truth to that to an extent. Luxury tourism, international property, yachting, hospitality and high-end services are important parts of the regional economy. But stopping the story there misses what makes the Côte d’Azur a real place rather than simply a luxury destination.

The Riviera is also a place where people build careers, start companies, raise families, study, commute, retire, create businesses and pursue opportunities. It is a place where people from completely different economic backgrounds live alongside one another, sometimes in very different circumstances but within the same relatively small geographical area.

The person sitting beside you on the bus may work in finance. The person standing next to them may be a cleaner. Someone across the aisle may be an engineer. The student beside them may have arrived from another country for a year of university. The person getting off at the next stop may be heading to a restaurant kitchen, a construction site, a law office or a yacht.

And that is perhaps the real secret economy of the French Riviera.

It isn’t just about the people who can afford the villas, yachts and luxury hotels. It is about the thousands of people whose work keeps those industries operating, alongside the thousands more whose jobs have nothing whatsoever to do with luxury.

The Côte d’Azur isn’t one economy. It is dozens of economies layered on top of one another, from technology and research to hospitality, construction, healthcare, education, retail, finance, professional services, transportation, yachting, tourism and small business.

The luxury economy may be the most visible layer, but it is only one part of the story.

The next time you’re sitting on a bus or train or walking down the street on the French Riviera, look around. The people sitting around you are not simply background characters in someone else’s luxury holiday.

They are the people who live here, work here, study here, build businesses here, raise families here and, in countless different ways, make the Riviera what it actually is.

The French Riviera Isn’t Just a Playground — It’s An International Sporting Destination

 

There is something you notice quite quickly when you live on, or even spend an extended amount of time on, the French Riviera: being outdoors is not simply something people do here; it is a way of life.

Look around the Côte d’Azur and it becomes difficult to miss. Cyclists are climbing the hills above the coastline, runners are following the Promenade des Anglais, swimmers are heading into the Mediterranean, tennis players are using courts tucked into neighbourhoods and resort towns, yacht crews are preparing for another day on the water, hikers are hitting their strides into the hills and mountains, and football (soccer) and athletics are taking place throughout the region.

Seemingly forever the French Riviera has developed into far more than a destination for beaches, luxury hotels, yachts and glamorous events. It continues to become an increasingly important international sporting destination especially for marathons, with cycling, tennis, sailing, football, athletics, swimming, running and numerous other sports benefiting from something the region possesses in abundance: the ability to practise sport outdoors for much of the year in spectacular surroundings. That combination is difficult to compete with.

Outdoor Living is Part of the Culture

People sometimes make comparisons between homes on the Riviera and homes they may be accustomed to in North America. An apartment here can sometimes seem surprisingly small to someone coming from a North American sized apartment or house, particularly when they are accustomed to having substantial living rooms, large kitchens, garages, gardens and extensive private outdoor space. That comparison, however, can miss something important about life here.

Obviously, this is a generalization and there are enormous differences depending on where someone lives and what they can afford, but many people who live on the Riviera simply spend a considerable amount of their lives outside their homes.

Why sit inside when you can meet a friend at a café? Why spend an afternoon watching television when you can walk along the coast, hike through the hills, swim in the Mediterranean, take the train a few stops and explore another town, or simply sit in a village square and watch the world go by?

People aren’t simply walking from one place to another; they are more active. This is one of the things that makes the sporting culture here so interesting. Sport doesn’t necessarily feel like something that has been added to everyday life. Instead, it feels as though sport is an extension of everyday life.

The geography helps enormously. You have the Mediterranean on one side and mountains and hills on the other, meaning you can cycle along relatively flat coastal roads or challenge yourself on serious climbs, swim in the sea, hike through the Alpes-Maritimes, sail offshore, play tennis, run along the coast or participate in organised athletics.

Then there is the weather. While the Riviera certainly has rain, wind, cooler periods and the occasional miserable day — amongst the 300+ days of sunshine — the climate allows outdoor activity over a much longer period than many parts of Europe and North America, and that matters enormously to sport.

A Region Where Sport doesn’t have to Wait for Summer

One of the reasons the French Riviera works so well as an international sporting destination is that there isn’t the same sense that sport has to be squeezed into one particular season. Cycling can continue through much of the year, running doesn’t require a narrow summer window, sailing is possible for long periods, tennis has obvious advantages in this climate and swimming in the Mediterranean can extend well beyond what many visitors might expect.

The region also has the infrastructure and sporting associations to support it. There are clubs, associations, facilities and communities for an extraordinary range of activities, and you don’t have to be a professional athlete to participate. In fact, that may be one of the most important aspects of the Riviera’s sporting culture. International sporting events might bring elite athletes to the region, but the same environment encourages ordinary residents to get outside and participate themselves.

There is something wonderfully French about the idea of joining an association or club and becoming part of a local community through an activity. The sporting culture isn’t necessarily about competition or achieving some extraordinary physical goal; for many people, it is simply another way of building a social life while doing something that is good for their physical and mental wellbeing.

The World’s Athletes Already Know the Secret

The international sporting calendar has increasingly reinforced what residents have understood for years. The Côte d’Azur hosts or attracts major events and athletes across a remarkable range of disciplines. Tennis has an obvious presence through the Monte-Carlo tournament, while cycling has become deeply associated with the region’s spectacular climbs and roads, with Nice and the surrounding area increasingly featuring prominently in major professional cycling.

Sailing is practically inseparable from the identity of the Mediterranean coast, while Monaco has established itself as one of the world’s great sporting stages through Formula 1, athletics and other international events. Marathons have also become increasingly visible, particularly around Nice and the Promenade des Anglais, where the combination of a spectacular coastline and a relatively forgiving climate makes the setting almost absurdly attractive for major road races.

Then there is football (soccer). The region has its own professional football culture, but football is only one part of an enormous sporting ecosystem that includes swimming, rugby, golf, martial arts, gymnastics, ice sports, water sports and countless recreational activities. And yes, despite the Mediterranean climate, you can even find hockey and figure skating associations here, something I find particularly amusing given that I’m from Canada.

My Own Relationship with Sport Changed After Moving Here

Growing up in Canada, sport was a small part of my childhood. I played hockey and, where we lived, figure skating was also something we were encouraged to take to help develop balance and skating ability. Then I became a teenager and, like many teenagers, I suddenly decided that organised sport was boring to me. Swimming was the exception.

As an adult, I continued to walk a lot and eventually became interested in cycling, but moving permanently to the Côte d’Azur changed my relationship with being active in a way I never really expected. My walking increased substantially, partly because of curiosity and a great deal because walking became one of the best ways to discover where I lived.

The Riviera rewards walking. You can leave one town and find yourself in another, follow a coastal path, climbing into the hills is where I became an avid hiker, it’s a way to discover a viewpoint you didn’t know existed or simply wander through streets you have passed dozens of times without really noticing them. Then there is swimming. I swim almost daily beginning in the spring and push it as far into autumn as I possibly can. For me, the Mediterranean isn’t just scenery; it has become part of my routine, and that is the difference between visiting somewhere and actually living somewhere.

The Unexpected Fitness Holiday

One of the things I regularly notice on social media is visitors talking about how much weight they lost during a trip to the Riviera or anywhere in Europe. Sometimes they credit the food, particularly when comparing what they eat here with what they normally eat at home, but I suspect there is another explanation that is just as important: they moved — a lot.

People who come here for a holiday can easily walk thousands of additional steps every day without deliberately deciding to exercise. They walk to restaurants, along the waterfront, through old towns, up and down stairs, to train stations, through markets and between villages. They hike, explore and wander because walking is often the easiest way to experience the place. Some visitors probably return home wondering why their feet hurt so much, while others return home wondering why their clothes suddenly fit differently. In the end being pleasantly surprised with themselves.

The irony is that many of them haven’t necessarily been “working out.” They have simply been living, temporarily, the way people here often live.

Sport Becomes Social

There is another reason the Riviera’s sporting culture continues to grow, and it has less to do with exercise than it does with community. People who move here can sometimes arrive without the social networks they had in their home countries. Making friends as an adult isn’t always easy, particularly when you’re building an entirely new life in another country.

Joining a sports association can change that. You aren’t simply joining an activity; you are joining a group of people who have something in common. A cycling club can become a social network, a swimming group can become a regular part of your week, a tennis club can introduce you to people, a hiking group can take you to places you may never have discovered alone, and a sailing association can become a genuine community.

Suddenly, the person who arrived knowing almost nobody has somewhere to go, people to see and something to look forward to. This is one of the less obvious attractions of life on the French Riviera. The sport itself is important, but the people you meet through it can be even more important.

You Don’t Have to be an Athlete

Perhaps that is the biggest misconception about the Riviera’s sporting culture. You don’t have to be particularly athletic, you don’t have to own expensive cycling equipment, you don’t need to run a marathon and you certainly don’t need to swim five kilometres. You can simply walk, take the stairs, go for a swim, join a hiking group, rent a bicycle, play a casual game of tennis, walk to the next village or explore a trail.

The point isn’t necessarily performance; it is participation. The extraordinary thing about the Côte d’Azur is that the environment itself encourages participation. Nature is constantly inviting you outside, and once you begin responding to that invitation, being active can stop feeling like something you have to force yourself to do.

Perhaps the Greatest Benefit has Nothing to Do with Sport

This is ultimately why I think the sporting identity of the French Riviera is so interesting. Yes, there are economic benefits. International competitions bring athletes, spectators, teams, sponsors and media attention, while major sporting events provide another reason for people to visit the region outside the traditional luxury-tourism narrative. But the more important benefit may be what happens to the people who actually live here.

Being outside and physically active can improve physical fitness, but it can also change how connected people feel to their surroundings and to other people. There is the mental benefit of sunlight, fresh air, movement and simply getting away from four walls, along with the social benefit of meeting people and the psychological benefit of having routines and activities that give structure to your week.

I personally know people whose lives have changed significantly after adopting this more outdoor-oriented way of living. Some have told me that, with appropriate medical supervision, they have eventually been able to reduce medications such as antidepressants or blood-pressure medication as their overall health and wellbeing improved. That isn’t an argument for replacing medical treatment with sunshine, swimming or hiking; it is an observation about what can happen when people fundamentally change how they live.

And perhaps that is where the French Riviera has something particularly powerful to offer. Nature doesn’t necessarily cure everything, but it can change the conditions in which we live. It can get us moving, get us outside, introduce us to people and make us feel connected to the place we call home. It can remind us that being healthy isn’t only about what happens inside a doctor’s office or a gym; sometimes it is about walking out your front door.

On the Cote d’Azur, that door might lead to a Mediterranean coastline, a mountain trail, a village, a tennis court, a cycling route, a swimming spot or a café filled with people you have come to know. Perhaps that is the real secret behind the region’s reputation as an international sporting destination.

The French Riviera doesn’t simply provide somewhere to play sport. It provides a lifestyle in which being active feels like the most natural thing in the world.

Casa del Mare: A Belle Époque Jewel and the Remarkable People Who Shaped It

 

To me, one of the most captivating aspects of living on the Côte d’Azur is that on any given day, practically no matter where you are, you may be passing one of the most elegant, architecturally balanced estates with the most intriguing histories imaginable.

Behind walls, gardens and carefully positioned gates are houses that have witnessed more than a century of wealth, ambition, romance, politics, art and celebrity, their histories often largely invisible to the people walking past them.

One that I have watched change over the decades, and that now finally feels more settled in place, is located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin near Monaco.

Casa del Mare is strongly defined yet still intriguingly private, tucked behind the Plage du Buse at the Baie de Roquebrune. It is one of those properties that can easily be overlooked if you are simply walking along the coast, yet once you know something of its history, it becomes almost impossible to look at it in quite the same way again.

Over a decade ago, walking past the villa from almost any angle, the gardens surrounding it were not as full or as carefully maintained, offering a most unique vantage point into the property.

The newest owners have now altered all of that, and from the upper walking paths behind the villa, near the Cap-Roquebrune railway station, it is no longer possible to obtain the same views. From the public beach, however, there are still some wonderful vantage points.

While swimming or lounging on the sand, it is still possible to catch glimpses of the property from days gone by, while being reminded of that unmistakable feeling that this is truly the French Riviera.

A Villa Born in the Belle Époque

Casa del Mare belongs to a remarkable generation of Riviera villas created during the great transformation of the Côte d’Azur at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

The Riviera was becoming an international destination for Britain’s aristocracy, European royalty, industrialists, financiers and wealthy travellers seeking the combination of Mediterranean climate, spectacular scenery and the social opportunities offered by Monte-Carlo, Menton, Cannes and the rapidly developing resort towns.

The railway had fundamentally changed the region. What had once been a relatively remote Mediterranean landscape was becoming accessible to the wealthy of northern Europe, and enormous private estates began appearing along the coastline.

Casa del Mare was very much a product of this extraordinary moment.

The land was acquired by Kate Pawle in 1903, who commissioned the Danish-born architect Hans-Georg Tersling to design the villa. The surviving architectural record provides an unusually precise detail: the property changed hands while construction was still underway. On 26 October 1904, it was purchased by Bessie O’Hagan, who completed the project.

The villa dates from approximately 1904–1905.

Tersling was one of the most important architects working on the Riviera during the Belle Époque. His work can still be found throughout the region, including some of the area’s most celebrated buildings. Among them are the Grand Hôtel du Cap-Martin and Villa Cyrnos, built for the former Empress Eugénie.

Casa del Mare therefore wasn’t simply another large villa commissioned by a wealthy visitor. It was created by one of the architects who helped define the architectural character of the Côte d’Azur itself.

Architecture Designed for the Mediterranean

Casa del Mare is an elegant expression of Belle Époque eclecticism, incorporating French classical influences, Louis XVI references and Mediterranean architectural traditions.

 

The central rotunda and loggia give the building its distinctive character, while a monumental staircase connects the house to its extensive gardens. The relationship between the building, gardens and sea is fundamental to the design.

This was the era when a Riviera villa was not merely a house.

It was an estate.

The gardens, terraces, views, carriage approaches, service areas and relationship with the sea were all part of the experience. The architecture was designed to be approached, entered, experienced and viewed from different points across the property.

That is particularly evident at Casa del Mare. Its position above the Baie de Roquebrune and the Plage du Buse was not incidental. The villa was designed to exploit the Mediterranean landscape while simultaneously creating a private world within it.

And that is perhaps why it remains so captivating more than a century later.

Henry Osborne O’Hagan and the World of British Industrial Wealth

The villa’s first major owner was Henry Osborne O’Hagan, a prominent British industrialist and financier.

O’Hagan was deeply involved in the British cement industry and was one of the figures behind the creation of the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers in 1900, an enormous industrial consolidation that brought numerous cement companies together.

His presence on the Riviera illustrates something important about the society that created these estates.

The people building enormous villas along Cap Martin were not necessarily hereditary aristocrats. Increasingly they were the new industrial and financial elite whose fortunes had been created by the extraordinary expansion of modern capitalism.

Casa del Mare was therefore a physical expression of a new kind of wealth.

O’Hagan used the villa as a place for entertaining, and it reportedly became a significant social and musical gathering place. Concerts were held for audiences of more than 200 people, with musicians including the pianist Walter Morse Rummel associated with these events.

It is easy to imagine the scene: guests arriving at the great estate, the Mediterranean below them, musicians performing in the villa and gardens filled with the international society that descended upon the Côte d’Azur each winter.

The villa was already becoming much more than a private residence.

It was becoming a stage.

A Brief Afterlife as a Refuge for War Nurses

The history of Casa del Mare also contains a quieter and rather touching episode.

Between November 1918 and April 1919, shortly after the First World War, the villa was reportedly rented by a woman identified as Miss Angas, who used it to provide a holiday for British nurses who had served during the war.

The contrast is striking.

A house created to embody Belle Époque privilege and industrial wealth was, in the aftermath of one of Europe’s most devastating conflicts, being used as a place of rest for women who had spent years caring for wounded soldiers.

It is precisely these unexpected details that make the history of old Riviera estates so compelling. Their stories are not simply about the rich people who owned them.

They are also about the people who passed through them.

Guido Donegani and the Italian Industrial Empire

Following O’Hagan’s death in 1930, Casa del Mare entered another remarkable chapter.

It became associated with Guido Donegani, one of the most powerful industrialists in Italy and the driving force behind Montecatini, one of the country’s great industrial enterprises.

If O’Hagan represented the rise of British industrial capitalism, Donegani represented the emergence of modern Italian industrial power.

But Donegani brought something else to Casa del Mare: an appreciation for extraordinary design.

The villa became connected with the work of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, one of the greatest French furniture designers and decorators of the Art Deco period.

Surviving Ruhlmann documentation contains drawings and material relating specifically to Casa del Mare. Furniture, bedrooms, boudoirs, woodwork, fireplaces and upholstery were among the elements involved in the work commissioned for the villa.

This is an extraordinary detail in the property’s history.

Casa del Mare wasn’t simply an architecturally important Belle Époque house. During the Donegani period, its interiors were being transformed with the work of one of the most celebrated designers of twentieth-century France.

The Ruhlmann connection also raises fascinating questions about what remains of those interiors today, where individual pieces may have ended up and whether further documentation could reconstruct the appearance of the villa during the 1930s.

From Industry to Cinema

After the Second World War, the Côte d’Azur was entering another era.

The aristocratic winter season was changing. International tourism was expanding, Cannes was becoming increasingly associated with cinema, and a new generation of actors, producers and artists were making the Riviera their playground.

Casa del Mare followed that transformation.

In 1950, scenes from My Daughter Joy were filmed at the property, with Edward G. Robinson among the stars.

Five years later, another extraordinary chapter began when the villa was acquired by Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis.

De Laurentiis was one of the great figures of postwar Italian cinema, while his wife, Silvana Mangano, was one of Italy’s most celebrated actresses.

The villa became a retreat for the De Laurentiis family and a gathering place for people from the extraordinary world of Italian cinema.

The great Riviera photographer Edward Quinn photographed the people around Casa del Mare, capturing an extraordinary social world that included figures such as Mangano, Gina Lollobrigida, Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina.

This was the Riviera of postwar cinema: glamorous, international, slightly decadent and populated by people who would go on to define European film.

Casa del Mare had once been the home of British industrial wealth.

Now it was part of the mythology of Italian cinema.

From Hollywood and Rome to International Finance

The villa subsequently entered another world of wealth through its association with Akram Ojjeh, the Saudi businessman and founder of Techniques d’Avant Garde.

Ojjeh was one of the most prominent Middle Eastern businessmen operating in Europe during the latter decades of the twentieth century. His family would later become closely associated with international business, luxury assets and Formula One through his son Mansour Ojjeh and McLaren.

Once again, Casa del Mare reflected the changing nature of wealth on the Riviera.

The Belle Époque British industrialists had given way to Italian industrialists. The Italian industrialists had given way to international cinema. And now the great Riviera villas were increasingly becoming possessions of a global elite whose fortunes crossed continents.

The villa had survived because the world around it kept changing.

A Word About the Mobutu Story

There is an important distinction to make here because the history of Casa del Mare has become confused with that of another spectacular Tersling villa on Cap Martin.

Villa Del Mare, also known as Villa Maria Irina, is a different property.

That enormous estate is associated with Mobutu Sese Seko, and subsequently with Russian and international business interests. It has been the subject of considerable recent French legal and investigative attention.

The confusion is understandable. Both properties are associated with Hans-Georg Tersling, both date from the same extraordinary period and both have been described at various times using variations of the name “Villa Del Mare.”

But they are not the same house.

For Casa del Mare, the better-established historical sequence runs through Kate Pawle, Bessie O’Hagan and the O’Hagan family, Guido Donegani, Dino De Laurentiis and Silvana Mangano, and subsequently Akram Ojjeh, with some later ownership transfers requiring further archival research.

That distinction is particularly important because it prevents the fascinating history of one villa from being inadvertently combined with the quite different history of another.

A Changing View

For me, however, Casa del Mare’s history is only part of what makes the property fascinating.

There is something particularly compelling about seeing a building evolve over the course of decades while the landscape around it changes.

When I first became familiar with the villa more than a decade ago, the gardens were considerably less dense and less manicured. From the walking paths above the property, particularly around the area of the Cap-Roquebrune railway station, it was possible to obtain glimpses that are now largely gone.

The newer landscaping has restored a considerable degree of privacy. And it’s blatantly obvious to locals that updates have been made throughout the estate since these photos posted were taken.

From above, the villa is now much more concealed.

But the sea has not changed.

From the Plage du Buse there are still places where the house can be glimpsed through the vegetation, and there is something wonderfully appropriate about experiencing it that way.

You can be swimming in the Mediterranean, lying on one of the Riviera’s most beautiful beaches, and looking up to see a glimpse of a villa that has witnessed more than 120 years of history.

You are looking at the same coastline that attracted the British industrialists of the Belle Époque.

The same Mediterranean that looked out over O’Hagan’s parties.

The same landscape that surrounded Donegani’s Ruhlmann interiors.

The same sea that provided the backdrop for De Laurentiis, Mangano and the extraordinary circle of Italian cinema.

And, eventually, the same view that continues to make these properties among the most coveted real estate on the planet.

The Riviera Hidden in Plain Sight

This is what I find most fascinating about living on the Côte d’Azur.

History here is rarely confined to museums.

It is embedded in the landscape.

It is in the villas behind walls, the grand hotels, the railway stations, the old gardens, the staircases descending toward the sea and the buildings that most people pass without ever knowing what happened inside them.

Casa del Mare is a perfect example.

It has survived the collapse of the Belle Époque, two world wars, the transformation of European society, the rise and fall of industrial empires, the golden age of Italian cinema and the arrival of a truly global class of wealth.

Yet it remains there above the Plage du Buse, remarkably poised over the Mediterranean.

The people have changed.

The fortunes have changed.

The fashions have changed.

Even the gardens have changed.

But the villa remains.

And perhaps that is the most captivating aspect of all.

On the Côte d’Azur, you can quite literally walk past history without knowing it is there. Sometimes all it takes is a glimpse through the trees, a view from the beach or a forgotten name on an old photograph to reveal that the elegant house above you has been quietly watching the Riviera change for more than a century.

Side note: Casa del Mare is a private property that is exceptionally well secured and protected from every angle. Please respect the privacy of the property and do not attempt to trespass. The thrill of the property can still be felt just by basking in its presence. The colored images in this article date from both 2011 and 2016. 

Nice Takes Another Step Into the Future as iPhone Tap-and-Go Returns to Buses and Trams

 

For anyone who regularly uses public transportation in Nice and the surrounding area, the return of enhanced iPhone NFC functionality on the Lignes d’Azur network this September may initially sound like a relatively minor technological upgrade.

It isn’t.

The change represents another step in the transformation of public transportation across the Côte d’Azur into a system that is increasingly designed around the smartphone rather than the traditional paper ticket, plastic transport card or ticket machine.

Lignes d’Azur has already allowed passengers to purchase and store tickets on an iPhone through its mobile ticketing system. But the experience has not always been as seamless as passengers might expect from a modern contactless transport network.

That is what makes the restoration of Apple’s NFC functionality particularly interesting.

Soon the iPhone tap-and-go functionality will return in September 2026 following negotiations with Apple. The technology had been suspended in July 2024, meaning that the relationship between Apple’s NFC technology and the local transport network has had something of a complicated history.

But there is an important distinction that passengers should understand.

This isn’t simply a case of Nice suddenly discovering that an iPhone can be used on a bus.

iPhones can already be used within the Lignes d’Azur mobile ticketing ecosystem. Passengers can purchase tickets through the appropriate application and use their phone to validate those tickets against the NFC readers installed on buses and trams.

The difference is the degree of integration and simplicity.

Instead of thinking about the iPhone merely as a place where a digital ticket happens to be stored, the direction of travel is toward making the device itself function much more naturally as the passenger’s transport credential.

That distinction may sound technical, but anyone who has ever stood at a Nice tram stop trying to work out which ticket they need will understand why it matters.

From Ticket Machines to Your Phone

Public transportation in Nice has become considerably more sophisticated over the past several years.

The old model was straightforward: find a machine, select a ticket, pay, take the ticket and validate it.

Then came rechargeable transport cards (which can still be used).

Then mobile ticketing.

Now the smartphone is increasingly becoming the ticket.

For residents, this is convenient. For tourists, it could be transformative.

Nice welcomes millions of visitors every year, many of whom arrive with little understanding of the local transportation system. A visitor arriving at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport may simply want to get onto a tram or bus without having to decipher the local fare structure or locate a ticket machine.

The smartphone offers a much more intuitive alternative.

And because international visitors are already accustomed to using Apple Pay and their phones for everything from hotel reservations to restaurant payments, asking them to use their phone for public transportation requires virtually no new technological behaviour.

But Don’t Confuse This With London-Style Contactless

There is one important caveat.

The return of iPhone NFC functionality does not necessarily mean that Nice is adopting a completely open-loop system like London’s, where a passenger can simply tap a bank card or Apple Pay device and the transport network automatically calculates the appropriate fare.

Lignes d’Azur continues to operate its own ticketing structure, including individual tickets, multi-trip products, day passes, subscriptions and other fares.

The iPhone is therefore increasingly functioning as the digital carrier of the transport ticket, rather than simply being a credit card that gets charged every time someone boards a bus.

That distinction is important because the phrase “tap and go” can make the system sound more comprehensive than it actually is.

Nevertheless, from the passenger’s perspective, the experience is becoming remarkably close.

Buy the appropriate ticket.

Put it on your phone.

Walk onto the bus or tram.

Hold the phone near the validator.

And go.

Apple Watch Makes It Even More Convenient

Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of the evolving system is that the experience isn’t limited to the iPhone.

Lignes d’Azur’s current documentation also describes using an Apple Watch to validate a ticket.

That potentially removes another layer of friction.

Instead of pulling a phone out of a pocket or handbag, unlocking it and finding the appropriate application, a passenger can potentially simply present their watch to the validator.

For people who use public transportation every day, those few seconds may seem insignificant.

Multiply those seconds by hundreds of journeys, however, and the advantage becomes obvious.

And on a crowded Nice tram during the summer season, anything that makes boarding faster is a good thing.

Why It Matters Particularly In Nice

There is another reason this development makes sense for the Côte d’Azur.

Nice isn’t simply a city with a local commuter population.

It is an international tourism destination.

Passengers using Lignes d’Azur can include residents commuting to work, students travelling to university, retirees heading into town, tourists staying for a few days, cruise passengers spending several hours in the city and international visitors travelling between Nice, the airport and surrounding communities.

A modern transportation system therefore needs to accommodate people who may have absolutely no familiarity with the local ticketing system.

Smartphone-based ticketing is one way of eliminating that barrier.

It also reduces dependence on physical ticket distribution and makes the entire transportation network feel more connected to the way people already live their lives.

There Is A Practical Benefit For Fare Enforcement Too

The technology also has implications beyond convenience.

Every passenger still needs a valid ticket and must properly validate it. Making the purchasing and validation process easier can reduce one of the excuses often associated with fare evasion: that obtaining or understanding a ticket was difficult.

The easier it becomes to purchase a legitimate ticket, the harder it becomes to argue that the system itself created an unnecessary barrier.

For Lignes d’Azur, that potentially means a more efficient validation process and better control over fare compliance.

For passengers, it means fewer excuses for having to stand around at a ticket machine while a tram is waiting.

The Bigger Picture

What is happening in Nice is part of a much broader transformation in public transportation.

The traditional concept of a “ticket” is slowly disappearing.

First it was a piece of paper.

Then a plastic card.

Now it is increasingly a digital credential sitting inside a smartphone or smartwatch.

And the Côte d’Azur is moving in that direction too.

The September 2026 return of enhanced iPhone NFC functionality is therefore more than a small technological footnote. It is another indication that Lignes d’Azur is trying to make public transportation more intuitive, particularly for a population that increasingly expects to be able to use a smartphone for almost everything.

For residents, it should make everyday journeys easier.

For visitors, it could make navigating Nice considerably less intimidating.

And for a city that wants its public transportation system to work efficiently for both locals and the millions of people who pass through the Côte d’Azur every year, making the smartphone the ticket is probably less a technological novelty than an inevitable next step.

The days of desperately searching for a handful of coins to get onto a Nice bus may finally be heading toward the history books.