Bordighera, an Italian Riviera English tale

As you leave the autostrada and catch your first sight of Bordighera, you understand the reason why queens and painters from all over Europe used to fall in love with it. “A handful of houses clustered on top of a hill in the middle of a maze of alleys”, wrote novelist Edmondo De Amicis. Furthermore, Bordighera is a coastal centre – not surprisingly Sant’Ampelio -patron saint of the place – gave his name to the famous promontory where he set his hermitage. This pleasant small town of westernmost Liguria is renowned for its 2-km seaside promenade, flanked by stunning rows of Araucaria excelsa and colourful gardens. Right in front of the sea stand the three cannons – known as Butafoegu, Tiralogni and Cagastrasse – belonging to the ancient gun battery which failed to protect the place against the 1812 English fleet attack.  However, the English soon fell captive of Bordighera’s charme – in 1872 they founded the first Tennis Club right here…

 

The Bicknell Museum – Library (the first in western Liguria), located along the via Romana – its giant Ficus Magnolioides welcoming visitors – narrates this English tale. Clarence Bicknell was one of the protagonists of the British community. Man of letters, art patron, archaeologist (and much more), he discovered the prehistoric rock engravings of Mount Bego in the Valley of Wonders. 

 

This is a villa place, some of them the pick of Regina Margherita, the first queen of Italy. 1875 Villa Etelinda featured as one of the protagonists of Claude Monet’s “Les Villas à Bordighera”.

In 2019 (May – June) Claude Monet was back in the area, the star of an exhibition in Bordighera and Dolceacqua which focused on 40 masterpieces he painted here in 1884.

This not being enough, Bordighera’s bounty includes gourmet gems, too: citrus fruits, olives and vines, not to forget sweet Bescuteli.

 

 

My English abstract of the article as published on LiguriaFood

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