Welcome to Menton, the pearl of the Riviera, with the best climate on the Cote d’Azur. Our micro climate is due to the to the backdrop of the Maritime Alps, which protect Menton from northern and western winds, offering sunshine and blue skies for more than 300 days a year.
Frost is rare in Menton and occurs only every few years.
Citrus fruits grow here in abundance and for our internationally famous Lemon Festival, held every February, more than 200 tons of oranges and lemons are used to decorate festival floats and the beautifully themed structures created in the Jardins Bioves. Each orange or lemon is protectively attached to a wire frame via an elastic band and when, after more than two weeks, the festival comes to an end, each fruit is detached and sold cheaply in order to make marmalade, juice and other citrus products.
Menton can look back on a pretty turbulent history. From 1346 until 1848, Menton belonged to Monaco, but after more than 500 years, Menton, together with its neighbour Roquebrune, decided to separate from Monaco. This was due, in part to a tax on lemon exports. Both Menton and Roquebrune were under the protectorate of the kingdom of Sardinia, administered by the House of Savoy.
1860 the Treaty of Turin came into being and a decision was made between the Kingdom of Sardinia and Napoleon III, stating Nice, Menton and Roquebrune, were to be annexed to France. This cost Napoleon III four million Francs, which were paid to Monaco, ensuring that the prince of Monaco would renounced his rights to Nice, Menton and Roquebrune.
European Royalty, politician Winston Churchill, writers, artists, sculptors and composersdescended on Menton over the years. Famous names such as Paganini, Rubinstein, Beardsley, Matisse, de Maupassant, Chekov, Nietzsche, Robert Louise Stevenson, W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Blasco-Ibanez, Katherine Mansfield, to name but a few, came to live in Mentone. (Writtenthe Italian way with an e in former times.)
In a letter to his mother, Robert Louise Stevenson said, “Mentone is one of the most beautiful places in the world and has always had a warm corner in my heart, since I first knew it eleven years ago.”
Queen Victoria visited Mentone in 1882 with her daughter, Princess Beatrice and Scottish servant, John Brown. She stayed at the villa “Chalet des Rosiers,” owned by railway magnate, Charles Henfrey. In her diary, on the eve of her departure, Queen Victoria wrote, “I am sad to leave beloved and beautiful Mentone.” The Chalet des Rosiers today has been converted to six apartments.
William Webb Ellis, inventor of the game of rugby, was laid to rest in the “Vieux Chateau Cemetery,” which overlooks Menton and has spectacular views. Many famous people are buried here, including Russian Prince Felix Yussupov, who had a prominent part in the death of Rasputin.
Birgitt Nordbrink