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Origin and history

The Château de Saint-André, first mentioned in 1624, finds its origins in an older strong house, designed to monitor the gorges of the Paillon. Turned into a villa in the seventeenth century after losing its military role, it has a baroque decoration contrasting with its sober facades. An inscription of 1775 adorns one of his salons, while his frescoes, sometimes attributed without proof to the Galliari brothers or Abraham Van Loo, reflect his past prestige.

The western chapel, in baroque style, evokes the influence of Marco Antonio Grigho, active in Monaco and Nice in the 17th century. A blind arcade loggia, built after 1725, connects the buildings and carries decorative stuccos. The castle was a place of reception for the Thaon de Revel family, faithful to the house of Savoie, before being ceded in 1812 and then sold in 1862 to the Saint Paul Hospice, marking the end of its aristocratic use.

The castle, acquired in 1798 by a surveyor from Nice during the Revolution, was returned to the Thaon de Revel in 1812. After annexing Nice County to France in 1860, the family, established in Turin, sold it definitively. The monument had various uses before being taken over by the Emmaus Companions in the 20th century. Its inscription in the historical monuments in 1975 enshrines its heritage importance.

The medieval origins of the fief date back to 999, when the will of Odile, widow of Miron and wife of Laugier de Vence, bequeathed a property to the Abbey of Saint-Pons of Nice. In the 15th century, the fief passed to Raybaud Chabaud, seigneur of Tourettes, then to the Michelotti by marriage in 1555. The Thaon, heirs in the 17th century, made it a symbol of their power before its progressive decline.

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