Built in 1727 on the road to Turin, according to some sources, there was an earlier chapel dating back to 1655. Located on the salt route, it served as a stopover for travelers on their way to Turin.
This Chapel is part of the memory of our County. It was here that travelers would gather to seek the protection of the Holy Virgin before undertaking their perilous journey to Turin, the capital of the States of Savoy. It acted as a sort of gateway between the local authority and where communal authority ceased. In front of this chapel, the Consuls of Nice would welcome dignitaries arriving from Turin.
The chapel of Bon Voyage opened the salt route, which passed through l’Escarène and Sospel, where around 30,000 mules would pass carrying salt on the way there and various goods on the return. The original chapel from 1655, mentioned in a document from 1674, was rebuilt in 1727. Starting in 1652, the building also served as a starting point for the pilgrimage to Laghet.
The chapel was owned successively by the Counts of Villeneuve, lords of Trans, Baron Mazia Verani, Count Amédée d’Acchiardi, and after the revolution, by J B Amicy and finally by his heirs. With Nice’s annexation to France in 1860, it lost its purpose. Religious services ceased in 1881, reopened on November 30, 1888, and it was closed again at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1928, Monsignor Ricard blessed the restored building where mass was henceforth held for the neighborhood population. In the 1960s, it was once again abandoned in favor of Notre Dame de Bon Voyage, a larger church for a growing neighborhood. It decayed, was used to support advertising panels, and was likely to disappear except that… it was restored between 2004 and July 2007.
During the restoration work, the Moulin Canal was found (not to be confused with the mills in the Var plain), which irrigated the Riquier mills in the early 19th century. The restoration work revealed traces of the 17th-century chapel on which the 18th-century one was built. A 1930s tile hid terracotta tiles, and the roof was also redone.
This restoration returned to the chapel its original appearance and restored its Baroque style. The bell is engraved with the coat of arms of Nice and a virgin.
The door of this chapel is the work of a carpenter from Tende, a member of the Saint Eloi brotherhood (patron of muleteers), a gift from Mr. Jacques Giusto, as a nod to history.
Thierry Jan
