Bordighera is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the land border between Italy andFrance, the French coast is visible from the town. Having the Capo Sant'Ampelio, which protrudes into the sea, it is the southernmost commune of the region. The cape is at around the same latitude asPisa and features a little church built in the 11th century for Sant'Ampelio, the patron saint of the city. Since Bordighera is built where theMaritime Alps plunge into the sea, it benefits from theFoehn effect which creates a special microclimate with warmer winters. Most of the population of Bordighera is aged 50 or more. It normally rains more than a month.[clarification needed]
It seems that Bordighera has been inhabited since thePalaeolithic era, as archaeologists have found signs of human activities in the caves along the Italian and French coast. In the 6th century BC came the Ligures, from whom the name of the region, "Liguria" in Italian, is derived. They were the first people to alter the land and create a structured society.
The area was particularly prosperous during Roman times because it was situated on thevia Julia Augusta in the 1st century BC. After the fall of theRoman Empire, the village was abandoned because of the frequent attacks by pirates.
The name of the city appears for the first time as "Burdigheta" in 1296, in a papal Bill of by Pope Boniface VIII, but it was only in 1470 that some families from nearby villages, such as the Borghetto San Nicolò, decided to return to Bordighera to live. By then, Moorish pirates became rarer and rarer, but some particularly cruel raids still occasionally happened, such as the one by the pirateHayreddin Barbarossa in 1543. With these attacks diminishing, the strategic importance of the area became obvious to the Dukes of Savoy and theRepublic of Genoa, which fought for the territory in the 16th century. The small village was quickly transformed into a fortified town and gained importance until it became independent from the rival city ofVentimiglia in 1683.
On 23 July 1813, French shore batteries fired onHMS Armada when the seas pushedArmada into range.Armada landed hermarines who captured the eastern battery and then entered the battery on the point of Bordighero after the French had tried to blow it up. The landing party took fire from the nearby town so the frigates accompanyingArmada fired on the town.[3]
The next change of power in the region came in 1815 when the whole of Liguria was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia after theCongress of Vienna. The Napoleonic influence, however, remained and continued to influence the area. A good example of this is the "La Corniche" road whichNapoleon Bonaparte had wanted, and which reached Bordighera, facilitating the movement of people and goods and boosting the development of what was once called "Borgo Marina" and today constitutes Bordighera. The old town is simply called Old Bordighera or Upper Bordighera due to its position over the hill (in Italian "Bordighera Vecchia" or "Bordighera Alta").
The Golden Age of the city came in the 19th century when the lower city was built next to the "Corniche" road and the sea which attracted English tourists. Touristic interest in Bordighera seems to have been sparked by a novel fromGiovanni Ruffini,Il Dottor Antonio, which was published in 1855 in Edinburgh and featured the town. In 1860, five years after the famous novelIl Dottor Antonio was published, Bordighera's first hotel was opened, then called in French "Hotel d’Angleterre", now known as Villa Eugenia, at Via Vittorio Emanuele 218. The hotel hosted its first famous resident in 1861, British Prime Minister LordJohn Russell, 1st Earl Russell, grandfather ofBertrand Russell.
In 1873, the railway station was opened, allowing travel fromParis to Bordighera in only 24 hours, which at the time was remarkably fast. With the opening of the Calais-Rome Express railway on 8 December 1883, travel times got even shorter and 24 hours would be enough to travel fromLondon to Bordighera.
In 1887,Stéphen Liégeard, in his famous book "La Cote d’Azur", dedicated several pages to Bordighera and gave it a name that stuck: "Queen of the Palm Trees". He also noted that the "Grand Hotel de Bordighera" hostedEmpress Eugenie in the autumn of 1886.
In the 1890s, the Irish naturalist and early modernist writerEmily Lawless visited Bordighera a number of times, studying the local flora. In 1894, she wrote the essay "Two Leaves from a Note-Book" about a trip to Bordighera, describing the stunning changes in the landscape during and after a drought.[4]
In 1918 the Bordighera War Cemetery was built to commemorate fallen British soldiers who died in the area during theFirst World War. It was designed by SirRobert Lorimer.[5]
On 12 February 1941, the prime minister of the time,Benito Mussolini metFrancisco Franco in Bordighera in order to discuss Spain's entry intoWorld War II on the side of theAxis powers.In July 1947,Evita Peron visited Bordighera and, in order to honour her visit the seaside promenade was named Lungomare Argentina. The road is 2,300m long, which makes it the longest promenade on the Riviera.
Bordighera was the first town in Europe to grow date palms, and its citizens still have the exclusive right to provide the Vatican with palm fronds for Easter celebrations.
Villa Margherita (Bordighera). The villa was built by the architect Luigi Broggi and inaugurated on 25 February 1916. The villa became the official residence of QueenMargherita of Savoy during the winter season.
Bicknell Museum located in the Via Romana has a very rich paleontological collection of Liguria. It also has an international library which includes more than 20,000 volumes.
Villa Mariani was originally the cottage Mrs. Fanshawe,Pompeo Mariani, an Italian painter, bought the building in 1909, enlarged and built in the gardens of the Villa La Specola his workshop.
Town hall of Bordighera, which was the old municipal schools, was built according to the plans ofCharles Garnier (architect) in 1886. Within the walls of the gardens are the Marabutto, an old powder magazine, and three guns which defended the city from pirates and are cherished by the locals.
Anglican Church (Bordighera). The church was built in 1873 by the English community in Bordighera, it was sold to the city in the late twentieth century. After restoration it became an important cultural center.
Pallanca exotic gardens. This was created in 1860 by the Pallanca family and contains more than 3000 varieties ofsucculent plant including a Copiapoa which is three hundred years old.
The Scottish writerGeorge MacDonald lived and worked for parts of the year in Bordighera. His house was an important cultural centre for the British colony. He is buried at the churchyard of the former Anglican church.John Goodchild also ran a medical practice here for a number of years. It was here that he bought the blue bowl which he later took toGlastonbury.Jane Morris, the wife of William Morris stayed in Bordighera in the winters of 1881, 1885, 1887 and 1892.[6]
View of Bordighera by Monet, 1884
Claude Monet stayed in Bordighera for three months in 1884 and painted numerous pictures of the town and surrounding area.[7]
Other famous British-Italians who wintered and were buried here were the writerCecilia Maria de Candia and her husband Godfrey Pearse. Cecilia, a writer, novelist and herbalist researcher, spent seasons writing in residence and eventually retiring at her cottage in this community until her final days.[8]
The Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen wrote her first novel,The Hotel, published in 1927, after a visit to Bordighera.
Salad Condiglione, made with slices of rawonions, tomatoes, red, green and yellow peppers,olive taggiasche, salted anchovies,basil, oil.
Stuffed vegetables. different types of vegetables (zucchini, peppers, onions, etc....) stuffed with a mix of minced meat, potatoes, eggs
Michetta di Dolceacqua, it is a sweet born in the fourteen century inDolceacqua[11] made of flour, eggs, sugar and oil. A very appreciated variation is the Crocetta di Dolceacqua.
Panzarole andzabaione, it is a dessert made of sweet bread dough and then fried. Once ready it is dipped in zabaione. This dessert is typical of the nearby villageApricale.
Baci di Bordighera, they are a variation of the little cookies of the nearby townAlassio.
Bordigotti al Rhum, it is kind of a big chocolate stuffed with cream-based rum.
Pane del marianio, a sweet bread enriched with raisins and pine nuts
The local economy is mainly based on tourism; the beauty of the area and the mild climate attract tourists as well as artists. The production of olives and their derivate products such as olive oil is important as they have acquired a reputation throughout Italy. The variety "Olive Taggiasche" is particularly famous and praised, and obtained a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) in 1997.A secondary activity is the cultivation of plants and flowers.
