Nice ( ; ; Niçard Occitan:
Niça [classical norm] or Nissa [nonstandard],
Italian: Nizza or
Nizza Marittima, Greek:
Νίκαια, Latin: Nicaea) is a city in southern France
located on
the Mediterranean
coast, between Marseille
, France, and
Genoa
, Italy
, with 347
060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate. The city is a major
tourist centre and a leading resort on the French Riviera
(Côte d'Azur). It is the historical
capital city of the
County of Nice
(
Comté de Nice).
History
Foundation
The first known human settlements in the Nice area date back
approximately 400,000 years; the
Terra
Amata archeological site shows one of the earliest uses of
fire and construction of houses and flint
findings are dated as around 230,000 years old.
Nice (Nicaea) was
probably founded around 350 BC by the Greeks
of Massilia (Marseille), and was given the name of Νικαία ("Nikaia") in
honour of a victory over the neighbouring Ligurians (Nike is
the Greek goddess of
victory). The city soon became one of the busiest
trading ports on the Ligurian coast; but it had an important rival
in the Roman town of Cemenelum
, which continued to exist as a separate city until
the time of the Lombard invasions.
The ruins
of Cemenelum are located in Cimiez
, which is
now a district in Nice.
Development
In the 7th
century, Nice joined the Genoese League
formed by the towns of Liguria. In
729 the city repulsed the
Saracens; but in
859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, and for
most of the 10th century remained masters of the surrounding
country.
During the
Middle Ages, Nice participated in the
wars and history of Italy.
As an ally
of Pisa
it was the enemy of Genoa, and both
the King of France and the Emperor endeavoured to subjugate it; but
in spite of this it maintained its municipal liberties.
During the course of the 13th and 14th centuries the city fell more
than once into the hands of the
Counts of Provence; and at length in 1388
the commune placed itself under the protection of the
Counts of Savoy. Nice (called Nizza in
Italian) participated - directly or indirectly - in the history of
Savoy up until 1860.
The maritime strength of Nice now rapidly increased until it was
able to cope with the
Barbary
pirates; the fortifications were largely extended and the roads
to the city improved. In 1561
Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of
Savoy, abolished the use of Latin as an administrative language
and established the
Italian
language as the official language of government affairs in
Nice.
During the struggle between
Francis
I and
Charles V
great damage was caused by the passage of the armies invading
Provence;
pestilence and famine raged in the city for
several years.
It was in the nearby town of Villeneuve-Loubet
that the two monarchs in 1538 concluded, through
the mediation of Pope Paul III, a
truce of ten years.
In 1543, Nice was attacked by the united
Franco-Ottoman forces of Francis I
and
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha,
in the
Siege of Nice; and, though the
inhabitants repulsed the assault which succeeded the terrible
bombardment, they were ultimately compelled to surrender, and
Barbarossa was allowed to pillage the city and to carry off 2,500
captives. Pestilence appeared again in 1550 and 1580.
Nice seen from Spot Satellite
In 1600, Nice was briefly taken by the
duke of Guise. By the opening the ports of
the county to all nations, and proclaiming full freedom of trade
(1626), the commerce of the city was given great stimulus, the
noble families taking part in its mercantile enterprises. Captured
by
Nicolas Catinat in 1691, Nice was
restored to
Savoy in 1696; but it was again
besieged by the French in 1705, and in the following year its
citadel and
rampart were demolished.
The
treaty of Utrecht in
1713 once more gave the city back to the Duke of Savoy who was on
that same occasion recognized as King of Sicily. In the peaceful
years which followed the "new town" was built. From 1744 till the
peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) the French and Spaniards were again in
possession. In 1775 the king, who in 1718 had swapped his
sovereignty of Sicily for the Kingdom of Sardinia, destroyed all
that remained of the ancient liberties of the
commune. Conquered in 1792 by the armies
of the
First French Republic,
the County of Nice continued to be part of France until 1814; but
after that date it reverted to the
Kingdom of
Sardinia-Piedmont.
By a
treaty concluded in 1860 between the Sardinian king and Napoleon III, the County was again ceded to
France as a territorial reward for French assistance in the
Second Italian War of
Independence against Austria
, which saw Lombardy unified
with Piedmont-Sardinia. The
cession was ratified by over 25,000 electors out of a total of
30,700. Savoy was also transferred to the French crown by similar
means.
Nice in 1624, when it was called
Nizza
Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice,
strongly opposed the cession to France (arguing that it was not
done with a "universal" vote) and in 1866 there were even popular
riots in the city, promoted by "Garibaldini" in favour of the
unification of Nice to Italy. The
Italian irredentists considered Nice one
of their main nationalistic requests and in 1942/3 the city was
occupied and administered by Italy during World War II.
The 20th century saw the arrival of modern transportation.
In 1900,
the Tramway de Nice
electrified its horse drawn streetcars and spread its network to
the entire département from
Menton
to Cagnes-sur-Mer
. By the 1930’s additional bus connections
added to the transportation network of the entire area.
Starting in 1932, Nice hosted international car racing in the
Formula Libre (predecessor to Formula One) on the so-called
Circuit Nice.
The circuit started
along the waterfront just south of the Jardin Albert I, then headed
westward along the Promenade des Anglais
followed by a hairpin turn at the Hotel
Negresco
to come back
eastward and around the Jardin Albert I before heading again east
along the beach on the Quai des Etats-Unis.In 1932,
Louis Chiron won the Nice Grand Prix aboard a
Bugatti T51, closely followed just
3.4 seconds behind by
Raymond Sommer
in an
Alfa Romeo Monza with third
place going to
René Dreyfus, also
in a Bugatti T51. In 1933, the race was won by
Tazio Nuvolari in a Maserati 8C, followed by
René Dreyfus in his Bugatti and Guy Moll in an Alfa Romeo Monza. In
1934, the race was again won by an Italian in an
Alfa Romeo Tipo B, none other than the
best driver of the season,
Achille
Varzi. The last season to feature a Grand Prix at Nice was in
1935, when the Alfa Romeo Tipo Bs dominated the circuit in the
hands of Tazio Nuvolari and Louis Chiron, who placed second, and
René Dreyfus, who took third.
As war broke out in September 1939, Nice became a city of refuge
for many displaced foreigners, notably Jews fleeing the Nazi
progression into Eastern Europe.
From Nice many sought further shelter in
the French colonies, Morocco
and North and South
America. After July 1940 and the establishment of the
Vichy Regime,
antisemitic aggressions accelerated the exodus,
starting in July 1941 and continuing through 1942. On August 26,
1942, 655 Jews of foreign origin were rounded up by the Laval
government and interned in the Auvare barracks.
Of them, 560 would be
deported to Drancy internment camp
on August 31, 1942.Thanks to the activity of
the Jewish banker
Angelo Donati and of
the Capuchin friar
Père
Marie-Benoît the local authorities hindered the applications of
anti Jewish Vichy laws..
The first
”résistants” to the new Regime
were a group of High School seniors of the Lycée de Nice, now Lycée
Masséna, in September 1940, later arrested and executed in 1944
near Castellane
. The first public demonstrations occurred on
July 14, 1942 when several hundred protesters took to the streets
along the Avenue de la Victoire and Place Masséna. After November
1942 and the arrival of Italian troops occupying the city, a
certain ambivalence remained among the population, many recent
immigrants of Italian ancestry. However, the resistance got
momentum after the Italian surrendered in 1943 when the German
armies occupied Vichy France.
Reprisals intensified between December 1943
and July 1944 when numbers of partisans were tortured and executed
by the local Gestapo
and the French Milice.
Nice also was heavily bombarded by the American aviation in
preparation for the Allied
landing in
Provence (1000 dead or wounded and more than 5600 people
homeless) and famine ensued in the course of the summer of
1944.Finally American paratroopers entered the city on August 30,
1944 and Nice was finally liberated.The consequences of the war
were heavy, the population decreased by 15% and the economic life
totally disrupted.
In the second half of the 20th century, Nice enjoyed an economic
boom primarily driven by tourism and construction. Two men
dominated this period:
Jean
Médecin, mayor for 33 years from 1928 to 1943 and from 1947 to
1965 and his son
Jacques, mayor
for 24 years from 1966 to 1990. Under their leadership, the city
experienced extensive urban renewal and new constructions were
undertaken (Convention centre, theatres, new thoroughfares and
expressways, etc…) The arrival of the
Pieds-Noirs, refugees from Algeria after 1962
independence, also gave the city a boost and changed somewhat the
make-up of its population and traditional views. By the late
1980’s, rumors of
political
corruption in the city government surfaced and eventually
formal accusations against Jacques Médecin forced him to flee
France in 1990.
Later arrested in Uruguay
in 1993, he was extradited back to France in 1994,
convicted of several counts of corruption and associated crimes and
sentenced to imprisonment.
On October 16, 1979, a
tsunami, caused by an
undersea
landslide hit the western coast
of Nice and 23 people died.
In February 2001, European leaders met at Nice to negotiate and
sign what is now the
Treaty of Nice
amending the institutions of the European Union.
In 2003, local Chief
Prosecutor Éric de Montgolfier alleged that
some judicial cases involving local personalities had been
suspiciously derailed by the local judiciary, which he suspected
having unhealthy contacts through
Masonic lodges with the very people prosecuted
or judged. A controversial official report stated later that de
Montgolfier had made unwarranted accusations.
Coat of arms
Arms of Nice
The
coat of arms Nice appeared for the
first time in a copy of the
Regulations of
Amadeus VIII, probably written in
around 1430. The Nice is symbolized by a red eagle on white
background, placed on three mountains, which can be described in
French
heraldic language as "d'argent à une
aigle de gueule posée sur trois coupeaux".The arms have only
undergone minor changes : the eagle has become more and more
stylized, it now 'wears' coronet for the
County of Nice,and the three mountains are
now surrounded by a stylised sea. The arms of the city of Nice can
be described as "argent an eagle gules standing on three mountains
sable all upon a sea azure".
The presence of the eagle, imperial emblem, shows that these arms
are related to the power of the
House of
Savoy.The eagle standing over the three hills is an
illustration and a depiction of Savoy, in establishment of its
domination over the country around Nice. The combination of white
and red (argent and gules) is a reference to the colours of the
flag of Savoy. The three mountains symbolize a
territorial honor, without concern for geographic realism.Through
their symbolic structure, the arms of Nice are a sign of allegiance
and fidelity to the
House of
Savoy.
Administration
Located
in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
région, Nice is a commune and the préfecture (administrative
capital) of the Alpes-Maritimes
département. However, it is also
the largest city in France that is not a regional capital; the much
larger Marseille is its regional capital. The current mayor
of Nice is Christian Estrosi who was elected in 2008. He is a
member of the
Union for a
Popular Movement, the party supporting President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
Climate
Nice has a
Mediterranean
climate: the city enjoys mild temperatures most of the year;
rainfall is very moderate and mainly concentrated in the darkest
part of the year (September to March).
Summers are hot, dry, and sunny. Rainfall is rare in this season,
and a typical July month only records one or two days with
measurable rainfall. Temperatures seldom go below 20°C, and
frequently reach 30°C.Average annual maximum is about 35°C.The
absolute maximum recorded temperature in Nice was 37.7°C on the 1st
of August 2006.
Autumn generally starts sunny in September and becomes more cloudy
and rainy towards October, while temperatures usually remain above
20°C until November where days start to cool down to around
17°C.
Winters are characterized by mild days (11 to 17°C), cool nights
(4°C to 9°C) and variable weather. Days can be either sunny and
dry, or damp and rainy. Frost is unusual and
snowfalls are so extremely rare that they are
remembered by inhabitants as special events. Annual minimum is on
average around 1°C.
Spring starts mild and rainy in late March, and is increasingly
warm and sunny towards June.
Vegetation
The natural vegetation of Nice is typical for a Mediterranean
landscape, with a heavy representation of broadleaf evergreen
shrubs. Trees tend to be scattered but form dense forests in some
areas. Large native tree species include evergreens such as
holm oak,
stone
pine and
arbutus. Many introduced
species grow in parks and gardens.
Palm,
eucalyptus and
citrus fruits are among the trees which give
Nice a subtropical appearance. But there are also species familiar
to temperate areas around the world; examples include
horse chestnut,
linden and even
Norway
spruce.
Economy
View of the old town
Nice is the seat of the
Chambre
de commerce et d'industrie Nice Côte d'Azur.
It manages both the
Nice -
Côte d'Azur Airport
and the Cannes - Mandelieu Airport
, as well as the Port of Nice.
Nice has the second market of national interest in France and the
country's first
port cement manufacturer. It
also has a large number of museums and hotels.
Investors from France and abroad can benefit from the assistance of
the Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency
Team Côte d'Azur.
Among
tourists, Nice is the second most popular French city after
Paris
, a fact which, combined with the difficulties of
land travel at long distance (partly because of the Alps), allows it to have the second busiest airport in France in terms of passenger numbers
(close to 10,000,000 passengers in 2005).
Nice has
one conference centre: the Palais des
Congrès Acropolis
. The city also has several business parks,
including
l'Arenas,
Nice
the Plain,
Nice
Méridia,
Saint
Isidore, and the Northern Forum.
In
addition, the city features several shopping centres such as
Nicetoile, Nice TNL, Nice Lingostière, Northern Forum, St-Isidore,
the Trinity (around the Auchan hypermarket) and Cap3000 in Saint-Laurent-du-Var
.
Sophia
Antipolis
is a technology park northwest of Antibes
. Much of the park is within the commune of
Valbonne
. Established between 1970 and 1984, it
primarily houses companies in the fields of computing, electronics,
pharmacology and biotechnology. Several institutions of higher
learning are also located here, along with the European
headquarters of W3C. The park is named after Sophie
Glikman-Toumarkine, the wife of French Senator Pierre Laffitte,
founder of the park, and incidentally, Sophia, the goddess of
wisdom. The second half of the park's name is derived from
Antipolis, the ancient Greek name of Antibes.
Port
The port of Nice
The port of Nice is also known as Lympia port. This name comes from
the Lympia spring which fed a small lake in a marshy zone where
work on the port was started in 1745. Today this is the principal
harbour installation of Nice - there is also a small port in the
Carras district.
The port is the first port cement manufacturer in France, linked to
the treatment plants of the rollers of the valley of Paillon.
Fishing activities remain but the number of professional fishermen
is now less than 10.
Nice, being the point of continental France
nearest to Corsica
, has ferry connections with the island developed
with the arrival of NGV (navires à grande vitesse) or
high-speed craft. Two
companies provide the connections:
SNCM, a
partially public company and
Corsica
Ferries - Sardinia Ferries, an entirely private company.
Located in front of the port, the Place
Cassini has been renamed Place of Corsica.
Nice Côte d'Azur Airport
The
Nice Côte
d'Azur Airport
( ) is an airport in Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes
department of France. It is the third most important airport in
France after Charles de Gaulle Airport
and Orly
Airport
, both in Paris. It is on the Promenade
des Anglais, near l'Arénas and has two terminals. Due to its proximity
to the Principality of Monaco
, it also
serves as that city–state's airport, with helicopter service
linking the city and airport.
It is run by the Chamber of Commerce and the Nice Côte d'Azur
industry.
Its director is Hervé de Place, director of
the Côte d'Azur airports, which includes Cannes -
Mandelieu Airport. In 2006, 9,948,035 passengers travelled
through the airport.
Main sights
Monument Aux Morts in Nice
View of the Place Masséna
Place du Palais view of the Rusca
palace
Saleya Course (2007)
Cathédrale Sainte Réparate
The
Promenade
des Anglais ("Promenade of the English") is a celebrated
promenade along the Baie des Anges, a bay of the Mediterranean, in Nice. Before Nice was urbanized, the
coastline at Nice was just bordered by a deserted stretch of beach
covered with large pebbles. The first houses were located on higher
ground well away from the sea.
Starting in the second half of the 18th century, many wealthy
English people took to spending the winter in Nice, enjoying the
panorama along the coast. When a particularly harsh winter up north
brought an influx of beggars to Nice, some of the rich Englishmen
proposed a useful project for them: the construction of a walkway
(
chemin de promenade) along the sea.
The city of Nice, intrigued by the prospect of a pleasant
promenade, greatly increased the scope of the work. The Promenade
was first called the
Camin dei Anglès (the English Way) by
the Niçois in their native dialect
Nissart. After the annexation of Nice by France
in 1860 it was rechristened
La Promenade des Anglais,
replacing the former Nissart name with its French
translation.
The
Hotel
Negresco on the
Promenade des Anglais was named for Henri Negresco (1868-1920) who
had the palatial hotel constructed in 1912. In keeping with
the conventions of the time, when the Negresco first opened in 1913
its front opened on the side opposite the Mediterranean.
Another place worth mentioning is the small street parallel to the
Promenade des Anglais, leading from Nice's downtown, beginning at
Place Masséna, and running parallel to the promenade in the
direction of the airport for a short distance of about 4 blocks.
This section of the city is referred to as the "Zone Pietonne", or
"Pedestrian Zone". The banning of cars creates a more serene
setting. Here tourists can find a fine selection of restaurants,
specializing in both Niçoise cuisine and various types of foreign
cuisine. There is also a large selection of cafés where one can sit
and enjoy an espresso or choose from a variety of speciality
coffees, gelati and desserts, and watch the city walk by. There are
also plenty of small shops selling clothing, shoes and
souvenirs.
Other squares include:
Squares
Place Masséna
The
Place Masséna is the main square of the city. Before
the Paillon River was covered over, the Pont-Neuf was the only
practicable way between the old town and the modern one. The square
was thus divided into two parts (North and South) in 1824.
With the
demolition of the Masséna Casino in 1979, the Place Masséna became
more spacious and less dense and is now bordered by red ochre
buildings of Italian architecture.
The recent rebuilding of the tramline gave the square back to the
pedestrians, restoring its status as a real Mediterranean square.
It is lined with palm trees and stone pines, instead of being the
rectangular roundabout of sorts it had become over the years. Since
its construction, the Place Masséna has always been the spot for
great public events. It is used for concerts, and particularly
during the summer festivals, the
Corso carnavalesque
(carnival parade) in February, the military procession of July 14
(Bastille Day) or other traditional celebrations and
banquets.
The Place
Masséna is a two-minute walk from the Promenade
des Anglais, old town, town centre, and Albert I Garden
(Jardin Albert Ier). It is also a large crossroads
between several of the main streets of the city:
avenue Jean
Médecin,
avenue Félix Faure,
boulevard Jean
Jaurès,
avenue de Verdun and
rue
Gioffredo.
Place Garibaldi
The
Place Garibaldi also stands out for its architecture
and history. It is named after
Giuseppe Garibaldi, hero of the Italian
unification (born in Nice in 1807 when Nice was part of the
Napoleonic Empire, before reverting back to the Kingdom of
Piedmont-Sardinia). The square was built at the end of the 18th
century and served as the entry gate to the city and end of the
road to Turin. It took several names between 1780 and 1870 (Plaça
Pairoulièra, Place de la République, Place Napoléon, Place d'Armes,
Place Saint-Augustin, Piazza Vittorio) and finally Place Garibaldi
in September 1870.
A statue of Garibaldi, who was fiercely in favour of the union of
Nice with Italy. stands in the centre of the square. The recent
rebuilding of the area to accommodate the new tramway line gave
mostly the entire square to pedestrians, The architecture is in
line with the Turin model, which was the norm of urban renewal
throughout the entire realm of the House of Savoy.
It is a crossroads between the
Vieux Nice (old town) and
the town centre. Place Garibaldi is close to the eastern districts
of Nice,
Port Lympia (Lympia Harbor), and the TNL
commercial centre. This square is also a junction of several
important streets: the
boulevard Jean-Jaurès, the
avenue de la République, the
rue Cassini and the
rue Catherine-Ségurane.
Place Rossetti
Entirely enclosed and pedestrianised, this square is located in the
heart of the old town. With typical buildings in red and yellow
ochres surrounding the square, the
cathédrale
Sainte-Réparate and the fountain in the centre,
place
Rossetti is a must-see spot in the old town. By day, the place
is invaded by the terraces of traditional restaurants and the
finest ice-cream makers. By night, the environment changes
radically, with tourists and youths flocking to the square, where
music reverberates on the walls of the small square. The square's
lighting at night gives it a magical aspect.
Place Rossetti is in the centre of the old town, streets
Jesus,
Rossetti,
Mascoïnat and the
Pont-vieux (old bridge)
Cours Saleya
The Cours Saleya is situated parallel to the
Quai des
Etats-Unis. In the past, it belonged to the upper classes. It
probably is the most traditional square of the town, with its daily
flower market. The
Cours Saleya also opens on the
Palais des Rois Sardes (Palace of the Kings of Sardinia).
In the present, the
court is mostly a place of
entertainment. There are good restaurants serving typical Nicois
cuisine, markets and many pubs. It is no doubt one of the most
active spots in Nice.
Place du Palais
As its name indicates, the
place du palais is where the
Palais de Justice (Law courts) of Nice is located. On this
square, there also is the
Palais Rusca, which also belongs
to the justice department (home of the
tribunal de grande
instance).
The square is also notable due to the presence of the city clock.
Nowadays, the
Place du Palais is alive day and night. It
is particularly appreciated by youths who hangout on the steps
leading to the
Palais de justice, often with alcoholic
bottles in hand. The place is not a large open-air bar, though,
concerts, animations and events are frequent.
It is situated halfway between
cour Saleya and
place
Masséna.
Religious
Sports and entertainment
Demography
According to the estimates of
INSEE, the
population of Nice was 347,900 inhabitants on January 1, 2005.
Nice is
thus the fifth largest city in France, behind Paris, Marseilles
, Lyon
and
Toulouse
. The agglomeration of Nice, defined by
INSEE, is home to 888,784 inhabitants (fifth most populous in
France) and its urban area totals 933,080 inhabitants, which makes
it the sixth largest in France.
The city saw a big demographic rise in the second half of the 19th
century, a period when the population more than doubled, mainly due
to French immigration. At the beginning of the 20th century, this
rise intensified with the arrival of internal immigrants from the
County of Nice itself.
After the
First World War, the city
had a strong increase in population. Immigration was again the
reason of this growth. The hotel industry and that of the
construction industry, in full strength in the 1920s, attracted the
world more and more and thus made it possible for Nice to become a
town of national importance.
In 1921, Nice then became the eleventh most
populous town of France, then in 1931, the eighth, before being
ranked sixth in 1946; thereafter the city reached its current
demographic level thanks to the arrival of sixty thousand people
including French citizens from Algeria
.
Since the 1970s, the number of inhabitants has not changed
significantly; the relatively high migration to Nice is compensated
by a natural negative growth of the population. Nice has a high
proportion of elderly people.
Currently, the population of the city is growing again, the reason
of which is a preference for the climate. Nice is projected to have
360,000 citizens in 2008, and 370,000 by 2012.
Nice Observatory
The
Observatoire de Nice (Nice Observatory
) is located on the summit of Mont Gros. The
observatory was initiated in 1879 by the banker Raphaël
Bischoffsheim. The architect was
Charles Garnier, and
Gustave Eiffel designed the main dome.
The 76-cm (30-inch)
refractor
telescope that became operational in 1888 was at that time the
world's largest telescope.
It was outperformed one year later by the
36-inch (91-cm) refractor at the Lick Observatory
.
As a scientific institution, the Nice Observatory no longer exists.
It was
merged with CERGA
in 1988 to form the Observatoire de la Côte
d'Azur
.
Culture
Nice is one of the oldest human settlements in the world.
Terra-Amata, an archaeological site dating from the
Lower Palaeolithic age, is situated near
Nice. Nice itself was established by the ancient
Greeks. There was also an independent
Roman city, Cemenelum, near Nice, where the
hill of Cimiez is located. It is an archaeological site with
treasures, of which only a small part has been excavated. The
excavated site includes thermal baths, arenas and Roman road.
Since the second century AD, the light of the city has attracted
many famous painters such as
Chagall,
Matisse,
Niki de Saint Phalle, and
Arman and inspired many artists and intellectuals in
different countries e.g.
Berlioz,
Nietzsche,
Rossini etc.
Nice also
has numerous museums of all kinds: Musée Chagall, Musée Matisse
(arenas of Cimiez containing Roman ruins), Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules
Chéret
, Museum of Naïve arts, Musée
Terra-Amata, Museum of Asian Art, Museum of Modern Art and
Contemporary Art which devotes much space to the well-known
Ecole of Nice ”), Museum of Natural History, Musée
Masséna, Naval Museum and Galerie des
Ponchettes.
Being a vacation resort, Nice hosts many festivals throughout the
year, such as the Carnaval de Nice and the Nice Jazz
Festival.
Nice has a distinct culture due to its unique history. The local
language
Niçard (Nissart) is an
Occitan dialect (but some Italian scholars
argue that it is a
Ligurian dialect). It is still
spoken by a substantial minority.
Strong Italian and (to a lesser extent) Corsican influences make it more intelligible than other
extant Provençal dialects.
Nice has a few local dishes. There is a local tart made with
onions and
anchovies
(or anchovy paste), named "Pissaladière".
Socca is a type of pancake made from
chickpea flour. Nice is also known for
bouillabaisse and various fish soups;
"
Stockfish" (traditionally pronounced as
"Stoquefiche" with special emphasis on the first "e").
Farcis niçois is a dish made from
vegetables stuffed with breadcrumbs; and
salade niçoise is a tomato salad
with green peppers of the "Corne" variety, baked eggs, tuna or
anchovies and olives.
In the
past, Nice welcomed many immigrants from Italy (who
continue to make up a large proportion of the population), as well
as Spanish and Portuguese immigrants. However, in the past few
decades immigration has been opened to include immigrants from all
over the world, particularly those from former Northern and Western
African colonies, as well as southeast Asia. Traditions are still
alive, especially in
folk music and
dances. The most famous dance is the
farandole.
Gastronomy
The cuisine of Nice is close to the one of Provence and uses local
ingredients (
olive oil, anchovies,
fruit and
vegetables) but also those from more remote
regions, in particular from Northern Europe, because ships which
came to pick up olive oil arrived full of food products, such as
dried
haddock.
Local
meat comes from neighbouring valleys, such as the sheep of Sisteron
. Local fish, such as mullets, bream, sea
urchins, and anchovies (alevins) are used to a great extent, so
much so that it has given birth to a proverb: "fish are born in the
sea and die in oil" .
Examples of Niçois specialties include:
Education
Nice is
home to many preparatory
schools which prepare students for entrance to the Grandes
Ecoles (e.g. the Ecole Normale Supérieure
).
- IEHEI - Institut Européen des hautes Etudes
Internationales
- Azurlingua
- EF Ecole de Français
- IDIOM
- Top
Dance
- EDJ
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Nice is
twinned with:
Active twinnings
Other twinnings
Pact of friendship
See also
References
External links
.JPG/200px-Hotel_Negresco_(2).JPG)
(botanical garden)
, 17th century
, 20th century
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