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Discover the most beautiful French Riviera Palazzo and its nine wonderful gardens. Through the art dealers and experts she befriended, Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild sought out artworks all over the world, transforming the Villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat into a collector’s paradise. Between sea and sky, overlooking the bay of Villefranche, the nine heavenly gardens are adorned with patios, fountains, ponds, flowered and shaded paths. The Villa is also a place for wedding and receptions organization.
A PALACE OVERLOOKING THE SEA
Built on the narrowest part of the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat promontory, this sumptuous palazzo, one of the finest listed buildings on the French Riviera, has views over the Bay of Villefranche on one side and the Bay of Beaulieu on the other
- Riviera Follies
Cap Ferrat was the summer resort of Europe and North America’s most elegant and wealthy denizens, and it was in 1905 that Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild chose this spot to build her personal "folly" inspired by the great Renaissance palaces of Venice and Florence.
- A sumptuous Villa and its gardens
The Villa is set among nine magnificent themed gardens. Here, strolling visitors will be surprised and enchanted by the exact symmetry of the formal French garden, the lush vegetation of the Spanish and Florentine gardens, the fragrant profusion of the rose garden, the rare trees in the exotic garden, or the archaeological remains in the Stone garden. Today, Villa Ephrussi is the only great house open to the public on the Riviera to give some idea of the magnificent summer residences built by the very wealthy during the Belle Epoque to "create" the French Riviera.
FAMED GARDENS…
The Villa is surrounded by nine magnificent gardens offering patios, waterfalls, ponds, herbaceous borders, shady paths and rare trees. These are the Florentine, Spanish French, Exotic, Japanese, Stone and Provençal gardens.
- The formal French garden
The perfect symmetry of the formal French garden, overlooking all the others, is structured around a large ornamental pond, in sharp contrast to its exotic palm trees and clumps of succulent agaves.
- The rose garden
The rose garden surrounds an exquisite hexagonal temple. Béatrice Ephrussi grew almost 100 varieties of roses here, one of which is named after her.
- The Spanish garden
The Spanish garden, with its grotto supported by pink marble columns, its pond, dolphin fountain and pergola, is reminiscent of the world-famous gardens at Aranjuez, near Madrid.
- The Florentine garden
The Florentine garden overlooks the Bay of Villefranche. At its centre is a wide horseshoe staircase framing an enchanting grotto planted with philodendron, water hyacinth and giant papyrus.
- The stone garden
Set among the camphor and Judas trees of the stone garden are a wealth of arches, fountains, sculpted capitals, gargoyles and other grotesque figures dating from the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
- The Japanese garden
The Japanese garden offers a mixture of dainty ceramic temples and pagodas, bamboo thickets and ornamental ponds surrounded by giant acanthus plants.
- The exotic garden
The exotic garden will astonish visitors with its extraordinary range of agaves and giant cacti. And so, the Sevres garden and the Provencal garden..
THE ATMOSPHERE OF A GRACIOUS HOME
The Villa’s state rooms and private apartments breathe an atmosphere of a gracious home, while the outstanding works of art that Béatrice Ephrussi collected throughout her life testify to her passion for art and travel.
- The Baroness's private apartments
The Baroness’s private apartments are alive with her presence to this day. Each room is richly decorated with a refined choice of furnishings.
- The Baroness's bedroom
In addition to its fine antique furniture and Venetian painted ceiling, the Baroness’s bedroom contains a costume collection dating from the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI.
The Louis XVI salonThe Louis XVI salon, fitted with 18th century painted wood panelling originally in the Hotel Crillon in Paris, also boasts a Tiepolo ceiling and a set of Louis XVI chairs upholstered with Aubusson tapestry illustrating the Fables of La Fontaine.
BARONESS EPHRUSSI
Very early on, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild, wife of Maurice Ephrussi, a wealthy banker devoted her considerable fortune to the arts, immersing herself into the building of sumptuous residences and tirelessly amassing a priceless art and antique furniture collection.
- An insatiable traveller
An insatiable traveller, she was fired by a passionate love of nature and all manifestations of artistic genius, mobilising an army of experts and art dealers when building her villa on Cap Ferrat. When Béatrice Ephrussi died in 1934 aged 75, she bequeathed her palatial Cap Ferrat residence and its extensive art collections to the Académie des Beaux Arts, a section of the Institut de France.
- Baronness and pink color
The slightly fanciful Baroness Ephrussi chose pink as the dominant colour scheme for the Villa and liked to invite her friends to receptions that sought to recreate the splendour of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s court at Versailles, and transforming her residence into an exotic ark filled with her favourite animal companions including monkeys, budgerigars, mongooses, gazelles, antelopes, and flamingos.
THE COLLECTIONS
Through the art dealers and experts she befriended, Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild sought out artworks all over the world, transforming the Villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat into a collector’s paradise overflowing with a harmoniously elegant blend of rare porcelain, old master paintings and antique furniture.
- Furniture, paintings and china
The Louis XV and Louis XVI rooms on the ground floor house a remarkable collection of 18th century furniture and paintings, as well as an astounding collection of china.
- The first floor's collections
The Villa’s first floor is taken up with the most exquisite pieces of the Baroness’s collections. The tapestry room, whose Jacob furniture is upholstered with Beauvais tapestry, the singeries room decorated with monkeys showing human follies, and the Fragonard room comprise this unrivalled first-floor ensemble.
- The Porcelain collections
The porcelain room and its magnificent collection is one of the wonders of the Villa.During her travels, Baroness Ephrussi built up a collection of French porcelain in which specimens of Sevres and Vincennes ware featured prominently, testifying to her unerring taste. The Porcelain room was recently restored and now shows this sumptuous collection of plates, saucers, platters and vases made in the royal porcelain factories to its best advantage.
LODGING
See the listing of the Hotels in Nice
See the listing of the Hotels in Monaco
PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS
Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild
06230 Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Situation:
10 km from Nice
15 km from Monaco
Access : Between Nice and Monaco via the Basse Corniche (N98) road.
Opening hours
From 15 February to 1 November : from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (7 p.m. in July and August)
From 2 November to 14 February : Weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Weekend and school holidays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Visiting options:
Unaccompanied visit
A visitor Guide available in 4 languages (French, English, Italian, German) is given free to each visitor.
Guided visit of first-floor collections
At 11.30 a.m. – 2.30 p.m. – 3.30 p.m. – 4.30 p.m. (5.30 p.m. in July and August)