` Today, the Riviera' s thriv- ing artistic community is evidence that the creative allure of the Côte d' Azur refuses to diminish'
owner agreed to let struggling artists (includ- ing Picasso) eat at his restaurant in exchange for artworks, which still hang there today. Ninety years after La Colombe d' Or opened
its doors, St Paul de Vence continues to attract French and international artists, who have their studios in and around the village. Its thriving artistic community is evidence that the creative allure of the Côte d' Azur refuses to diminish. However, today' s artis- tic and literary crowds are rather different from those of the past: where once fledgling writers and artists arrived in the Riviera searching for freedom and to establish their reputations, now the area attracts an annual influx of established names who spend the summer months in the villas on the hills behind Cap Ferrat and moor their yachts in Saint-Tropez for the Cannes Film Festival. With so much interest in the area, the Côte d'Azur' s property market makes its own rules.
St Paul de Vence Contemporary writer Bernard Deloupy is selling his wonderful house on the Riviera in order
to downsize. Built around a refurbished 18th-century sheep farm, this bastide overlooks hun- dreds of acres of forests almost two miles from St Paul and half a mile from La Colle sur Loup. Currently operating as a gîte, this property could easily be returned to a private residenceÐ one
with the added allure of having been the cradle for Deloupy' s popular thrillers. The price is €1.39 million through Riviera Estates and Savills (020± 7016 3740;
www.savills.co.uk/abroad).
Although the recession softened values, the best houses with the smartest addresses, espe- cially those with sea views, command a pre- mium even in these testing times. Monaco in particular is a market unto itselfÐ one of the most expensive in the worldÐ but even in villages such as St Paul de Vence and Antibes, prices regularly reach more than €10,000 per square metre. On the Croisette in Cannes, close to the famous Carlton hotel, they can now hit as much as €56,000 per square metre. Then again, few other places have inspired so many literary and artistic masterpieces
Ð not to mention that, beyond the personal- ities, the glamour and the cultural history, the Côte d' Azur is still undeniably one of the most beautiful parts of the world.
NEED TO KNOW
Visit For a comprehensive list of museums commemorating some of the best-loved artists who lived on the Riviera, visit
www.gosouthfrance.com
Read For further reading on the writers who lived and worked on the Riviera, see The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers by Ted Jones
Stay Try La Colombe d' Or (00 33 4 93 32 80 02;
www.la-colombe-dor.com), or simply to have lunch or supper. Book well ahead in summer
www.countrylife.co.uk/international Country Life International, Summer 2011 51
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