Paul Augier, director of the Negresco, recounts to us as a social columnist this life before the First World War in Nice.
Since 1860, the year Nice and its County became French, the city has transformed. From an ancient sleepy town lost amidst olive trees, Nice concentrates on the left bank of its torrential river: the Paillon. Then with the annexation and the arrival of the railway, first the English, the Russians, and soon the entire European elite come to Nice to enjoy its mild winters.
Paul Augier paints a picture of this era when money flowed abundantly with aristocrats, princes, kings, and emperors, each wanting to outdo the other. Thus, villas (in the Roman sense of the term) and estates for the Russians are born, some of which still remain, like the headquarters of the university at Valrose.
From 1860 to 1914, it is half a century of opulence for these aristocratic classes. Nice, Cannes, Menton, and of course the Principality of Monaco will develop and flourish, a growth that continues after the First World War with the addition of a summer season. Paul Augier makes us relive this eventful period, although very short in the span of history, with the sovereigns coming to the Riviera.
His work mainly focuses on the Russians and the English, those who in a certain way created the international reputation of Nice and the French Riviera. Written in 1981, before the fall of the USSR, Paul Augier did not foresee that in the 21st century these Russians (not the grand dukes) would return to Nice, Cannes, and Monaco, but that is another story.
Thierry Jan
