From the Greeks to Napoleon

The settlement of the Côte d'Azur dates back to the Ligurians, a pre-Celtic people who inhabited the coast and the hinterland. Around 600 BC, Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the trading post Nikaia (Nice) — the name derives from Nike, the goddess of victory. Antipolis (Antibes) was established as a counter-city to Nikaia.

Roman Era

The Romans conquered the coast in the 2nd century BC and built the Via Julia Augusta — the coastal road that still exists today as the Grande Corniche. In La Turbie, they erected the Tropaeum Alpium (6 BC), a 35-meter-high victory monument in honor of Emperor Augustus' victory over 45 Alpine tribes. Cimiez (Nice's hill district) became the Roman provincial capital Cemenelum with baths, an amphitheater, and 20,000 inhabitants.

Middle Ages & Savoy

After the migration period and Saracen raids (the notorious fortress Fraxinetum near La Garde-Freinet was only recaptured in 972), the region was divided between the County of Provence (France) and Savoy (Nice). Nice belonged to the House of Savoy from 1388 and thus to Italy — it only became definitively French in 1860 in a controversial referendum. Hence the Italian architecture, cuisine, and lifestyle of Nice.

Napoleon & the Corniche

Napoleon Bonaparte, hailing from Corsica, had a special relationship with the coast. He had the Grande Corniche expanded along the route of the Roman Via Julia Augusta and landed in 1815 after his escape from Elba at Golfe-Juan (between Cannes and Antibes) to begin his march to Paris — the famous Route Napoléon, which still exists today as a tourist route.