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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Ephrussi de Rothschild villa, also known as the Île-de-France villa, is a Renaissance palace built between 1905 and 1912 on the peninsula of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Ordered by Baroness Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild, it is inspired by the large Italian houses and reflects her taste for 18th-century art. The villa, surrounded by seven hectares of gardens, is designed as a liner, with spaces organized around a central patio.

Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild, heiress of the Rothschild family and passionate about art, oversees every detail of the construction. It imposes its fetish colour, pink, and has sumptuous living rooms decorated with woodwork, tapestries and royal furniture. The gardens, designed by Achille Duchêne and Harold Peto, combine French, Japanese, Spanish and exotic styles, reflecting his travels and eclecticism.

When she died in 1934, the Baroness left the villa and its collections at the Academy of Fine Arts to make it a museum. Opened to the public in 1938, the villa became a major cultural place, managed successively by the Institut de France, Culturespaces, and again by the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2023. Ranked a historic monument in 1996, it now attracts 130,000 annual visitors.

The interiors house medieval and Renaissance works of art, porcelains of Sèvres, and furniture belonging to historical figures such as Marie-Antoinette. The gardens, labeled "Remarkable Garden", host events such as Rose Day and cultural evenings in summer. The villa has also served as a setting for several films, reinforcing its status as an icon of the French Riviera.

The construction of the villa involves several architects, including Jacques-Marcel Auburtin and Aaron Messiah, the latter being the final masterpiece. Béatrice Ephrussi is inspired by a voyage by a ship, Île-de-France, to name the villa and organize its spaces like a ship. The gardens, initially four, are enriched after his death with new themes, such as the Florentine or Provençal garden.

The villa illustrates the lavish way of life of the European aristocracy at the beginning of the twentieth century, mixing art, nature and travel. His legacy to the Academy of Fine Arts makes it a unique museum, preserving the spirit of a private living room while opening its doors to the public. Today, it remains a symbol of the Azurean heritage, combining architecture, history and botany.

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