County of Nice Contèa de Niça (Provençal) Contea di Nizza (Italian) Comté de Nice (French) Comitatus Nicaeensis (Medieval Latin) | |||||||||
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| 1388–1860 | |||||||||
  Flag (variants)  Coat of arms | |||||||||
 The county inside modern France. | |||||||||
| Status | County within theSavoyard state | ||||||||
| Capital | Nice | ||||||||
| Common languages | Niçard, Italian, French | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Dedication of Nice toSavoy | 1388 | ||||||||
• Part ofCounty of Savoy | 1388–1416 | ||||||||
• Part ofSavoyard State | 1416–1720 | ||||||||
• Part ofSardinia-Piedmont-Savoy | 1720–1796 | ||||||||
| 1796–1814 | |||||||||
• Part ofKingdom of Sardinia | 1814–1860 | ||||||||
| 1847 | |||||||||
| 1860 | |||||||||
| Currency | Piedmontese scudo(to 1816) French franc(1800–1814) Sardinian lira(1816–1848) | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France | ||||||||
TheCounty of Nice (French:Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois;Italian:Contea di Nizza / Paese Nizzardo;NiçardOccitan:Contèa de Niça / País Niçard) was a historical region of France located around the southeastern city ofNice and roughly equivalent to the modernarrondissement of Nice.
Its territory lies between theMediterranean Sea (Côte d'Azur),Var River and the southernmost crest of theAlps.
Ligurian tribes populated the County of Nice prior to its occupation by theRomans. These tribes, conquered byAugustus, had become fullyRomanized (according toTheodore Mommsen) by the 4th century, when thebarbarian invasions began.
TheFranks conquered the region after theFall of the Western Roman Empire, and the local Romance populations became integrated within theCounty of Provence, with a period of independence as amaritime republic (1108–1176). It was initially a semi-autonomous part of the ancient County of Provence.
Nice became part of the domains of theHouse of Savoy on 28 September 1388, with whichAmadeus VII, Count of Savoy, taking advantage of the internal struggles inProvence, negotiated with Giovanni Grimaldi, baron ofBoglio (governor of Nice and the Eastern Provence) the passage of Nice and theUbaye Valley to the Savoy domains, with the name ofTerre Nuove di Provenza. TheTerre Nuove then took the name of County of Nice in 1526, where in this context the term "county" was used in an administrative and not a feudal sense.
On 25 October 1561, following the Edict of Rivoli, Italian replaced Latin as the language for drafting the official documents of the County of Nice.
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, made Nice a free port in 1614 and established a senate there. The revolt of the count of Boglio was put down in 1621 and from that moment the county experienced a period of stability, unlike the nearby Provence battered by the revolts. Hostilities with France recommenced during the 17th century and the county was subjected to French occupation twice (1691–1697 and 1707–1713).
During the 18th century the border between the county of Nice and France was rectified several times. The first time in 1718, whenVictor Amadeus II of Sardinia repurchased the upper Varo valley withEntraunes andSaint-Martin-d'Entraunes in exchange for municipality ofLe Mas, and a second time with the Treaty of Turin of 24 March 1760, with which the Savoys cededGattières and the right bank of theEsterone river to France, in exchange for the areas ofGuglielmi andLa Penna, which passed to Savoyard possessions.
In 1789, Nice was a counter-revolutionary center; theArmy of the Midi of theyoung French Republic, under the command of GeneralJacques Bernard d'Anselme, entered the city on 29 September 1792. The following 31 January, theNational Convention ordered the integration of the county into French territory and the creation of theAlpes-Maritimes department. During the period of the French occupation, the popular movement of barbetism was active in the territory of the County, loyal to the House of Savoy.
On 23 April 1814 the county returned under the control of the KingVictor Emmanuel I of Sardinia, while the Principality ofMonaco passed from the French to the Sardinianprotectorate. With the outbreak of nationaluprisings of 1848, the Monegasque towns ofMenton andRoquebrune rebelled against their prince and became free cities administered by the House of Savoy, theFree Cities of Menton and Roquebrune.
After theTreaty of Turin was signed in 1860 between theVictor Emmanuel II of Sardinia andNapoleon III as a consequence of thePlombières Agreement, the county was again and definitively ceded to France as a territorial reward for French assistance in theSecond Italian War of Independence againstAustria, which sawLombardy united with theKingdom of Sardinia. King Victor-Emmanuel II, on 1 April 1860, solemnly asked the population to accept the change of sovereignty, in the name of Italian unity, and the cession was ratified by a regionalreferendum.Italophile manifestations and the acclamation of an "Italian Nice" by the crowd were reported on this occasion.[1] A referendum was held on 15 and 16 April 1860. The opponents of annexation called for abstention, hence the very high abstention rate. The "yes" vote won 83% of registered voters throughout the county of Nice, and 86% in Nice, partly due to pressure from the authorities.[2] This was the result of a masterful operation of information control by the French and Piedmontese governments, to influence the outcome of the vote in relation to the decisions already taken.[3] The irregularities in the referendum voting operations were evident. The case of Levens is emblematic: the same official sources recorded, faced with only 407 voters, 481 votes cast, naturally almost all in favor of joining France.[4]
The Italian language was the official language of the County, used by the Church, the town hall, taught in schools, used in theaters and at the Opera; though it was immediately abolished and replaced by French.[5][6] Discontent over annexation to France led to the emigration of a large part of the Italophile population, also accelerated by Italian unification after 1861. A quarter of the population of Nice, around 11,000 people from Nice, decided to voluntarily exile themselves to Italy.[7][8] The emigration of a quarter of theNiçard Italians to Italy was known as theNiçard exodus.[9]Many Italians from Nice then moved to the Ligurian towns ofVentimiglia,Bordighera andOspedaletti,[10] giving rise to a local branch of the movement of theItalian irredentists which considered the reacquisition of Nice to be one of their nationalist goals.Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice, strongly opposed the cession to France, arguing that the ballot was rigged by the French. Furthermore, for the niçard general his hometown was unquestionably Italian. Politically, the liberals of Nice and the partisans of Garibaldi also appreciated very little Napoleonic authoritarianism. Elements on the right (aristocrats) as on the left (Garibaldians) therefore wanted Nice to return to Italy. Savoy was also transferred to the French crown by similar means.
In 1871, during the first free elections in the County, the pro-Italian lists obtained almost all the votes in the legislative elections (26,534 votes out of 29,428 votes cast), and Garibaldi was elected deputy at theNational Assembly. Pro-Italians take to the streets cheering"Viva Nizza! Viva Garibaldi!" The French government sent 10,000 soldiers to Nice, closed the Italian newspaperIl Diritto di Nizza and imprisoned several demonstrators. The population of Nice rose from 8 to 10 February, and the three days of demonstration became known as "Niçard Vespers." The revolt was suppressed by French troops. On 13 February, Garibaldi was not allowed to speak at the French parliament meeting in Bordeaux to ask for the reunification of Nice to thenewborn Italian unitary state, and he resigned from his post as deputy.[11] The failure of Vespers led to the expulsion of the last pro-Italian intellectuals from Nice, such as Luciano Mereu or Giuseppe Bres, who were expelled or deported.
The pro-Italian irredentist movement persisted throughout 1860–1914, despite the repression carried out since the annexation. The French government implemented a policy of Francization of society, language and culture.[12] The toponyms of the communes of the ancient County have been francized, with the obligation to use French in Nice,[13] as well as certain surnames (for example the Italian surname "Bianchi" was francized into "Leblanc", and the Italian surname "Del Ponte" was francized into "Dupont").[14]
Italian-language newspapers in Nice were banned. In 1861,La Voce di Nizza was closed (temporarily reopened during the Niçard Vespers), followed byIl Diritto di Nizza, closed in 1871.[11] In 1895, it was the turn ofIl Pensiero di Nizza, accused of irredentism. Many journalists and writers from Nice wrote in these newspapers in Italian. Among these are Enrico Sappia, Giuseppe André, Giuseppe Bres, Eugenio Cais di Pierlas and others.
Benito Mussolini considered the annexation of Nice to be one of his main targets. In 1940, the County of Nice wasoccupied by the Italian army and the newspaperIl Nizzardo ("The Niçard") was restored there. It was directed by Ezio Garibaldi, grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi. OnlyMenton was administered until 1943 as if it was an Italian territory, even if the Italian supporters ofItalian irredentism in Nice wanted to create an Italian governorate (on the model of theGovernorate of Dalmatia) up to theVar river or at least a "Province of the Western Alps".[15]
The Italian occupation government was far less severe than that ofVichy France; thus, thousands of Jews took refuge there. For a while, Nice became an important mobilization center for various Jewish organizations. However, when the Italians signed theArmistice of Cassibile with the Allies, German troops invaded the region on 8 September 1943, and initiated brutal raids.Alois Brunner, the SS official for Jewish affairs, was placed at the head of units formed to search for Jews. Within five months, 5,000 Jews were caught and deported.[16]
The area was returned to France following the war and in 1947, the areas ofLa Brigue andTende, which had remained Italian after 1860 were ceded toFrance. Thereafter, a quarter of theNiçard Italians living in that mountainous area moved toPiedmont andLiguria in Italy (mainly from theRoya Valley and Tenda).[17]
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As the county was too small to form its own department, the Government of France added it to thearrondissement of Grasse, detached from the neighboringVar department, to create theAlpes-Maritimes department. Since 1926, the county has been largely coterminous with thearrondissement of Nice, one of two arrondissements of theAlpes-Maritimes, in theProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azurregion. Nevertheless, the term County of Nice (Countea de Nissa inNiçard dialect) continues to be in use to identify the territory as a distinct cultural and historical region, particularly to distinguish it from the neighboringProvence.
The historical language used by inhabitants of the County of Nice was Niçard, though it has been almost entirely supplanted by French since 1860. Since 2010, the statueNeuf Lignes Obliques on thePromenade des Anglais commemorates the 150th year of Nice's annexation.
TheFrancization of the toponyms of the municipalities of the County of Nice was the process, imposed by the French authorities, of replacing the official Italian toponyms with francized names for its 101 municipalities which formed thearrondissement of Nice after the annexation to France in 1861 following theTreaty of Turin (for some territories in 1947 following theTreaty of Paris).[18][19]
| Italian name | French name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ascroso | Ascros | Scroso was also used in Italian. |
| Aspromonte di Nizza | Aspremont | |
| Auvara | Auvare | |
| Belluogo | Beaulieu-sur-Mer | |
| Belvedere | Belvédère | |
| Bendigiuno | Bendejun | |
| Berra | Berre-les-Alpes | Until 1997Berre-des-Alpes. |
| Blausasco | Blausasc | Use of theOccitan name. |
| Boglio | Beuil | |
| Bolena | La Bollène-Vésubie | |
| Bonsone | Bonson | Use of theOccitan name. |
| Breglio | Breil-sur-Roya | Municipality annexed in 1861. In 1947 thefrazioni of Piena and Libri were annexed, detached from the Italian municipality ofOlivetta San Michele (province of Imperia). |
| Briga Marittima | La Brigue | Until 1947 inprovince of Cuneo it was known as from 1947 to 1976 asLa Brigue de Nice. |
| Cantarone | Cantaron | |
| Castagnera | Castagniers | |
| Castellaro | Castellar | |
| Castelnuovo d'Entraunes | Châteauneuf-d'Entraunes | |
| Castelnuovo Villavecchia | Châteauneuf-Villevieille | |
| Castiglione di Mentone | Castillon | |
| Cigala | Sigale | Cigalla, Sigalla and Sigalle were also used in Italian. |
| Clanzo | Clans | Use of theOccitan name. |
| Coarazza | Coaraze | |
| Colomarte | Colomars | |
| Conti | Contes | |
| Daluis | Daluis | |
| Drappo | Drap | |
| Duranusso | Duranus | Duranuzzo was also used in Italian. |
| Eza | Èze | |
| Falicone | Falicon | Use of theOccitan name. |
| Giletta | Gilette | |
| Gorbio | Gorbio | Use of the Italian name. |
| Guglielmi | Guillaumes | |
| Ilonza | Ilonse | |
| Isola | Isola | Use of the Italian name. In 1976 the ski resort ofIsola 2000 was founded. |
| La Penna | La Penne | |
| La Torre | La Tour | |
| Lantosca | Lantosque | |
| Levenzo | Levens | |
| Lieucia | Lieuche | |
| Lucerame | Lucéram | |
| Malaussena | Malaussène | |
| Maria | Marie | |
| Massone | Massoins | |
| Mentone | Menton | Until 1848, it was part of thePrincipality of Monaco, then part of theFree Cities of Menton and Roquebrune (1848) and later part of the County of Nice until 1860. |
| Molinetto | Moulinet | |
| Nizza | Nice | In Italian, Nizza Marittima and Nizza di Provenza were also used so as not to confuse it with the Italian municipality ofNizza Monferrato (province of Asti). |
| Peglio Marittimo | Peille | |
| Peglione | Peillon | |
| Peona | Péone | |
| Pietrafuoco | Pierrefeu | |
| Poggetto Tenieri | Puget-Théniers | |
| Quebris | Cuébris | |
| Rimplasso | Rimplas | |
| Robione | Roubion | |
| Roccabigliera | Roquebillière | Roccabellera was also used in Italian. |
| Roccabruna | Roquebrune-Cap-Martin | In ItalianRoccabruna sul Capo Martino was also used. Up to 1848, it was part of thePrincipality of Monaco, then part of theFree Cities of Menton and Roquebrune (1848) and later of the County of Nice up to 1860. |
| Roccasterone | Roquesteron | |
| Rocchetta di Varo | La Roquette-sur-Var | |
| Rora | Roure | |
| San Biagio | Saint-Blaise | |
| San Dalmazzo Selvaggio | Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage | San Dalmazzo Selvatico was also used in Italian. |
| San Giovanni sul Capo Ferrato | Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat | |
| San Legerio | Saint-Léger | |
| San Martino del Varo | Saint-Martin-du-Var | |
| San Martino d'Entraunes | Saint-Martin-d'Entraunes | |
| San Martino Lantosca | Saint-Martin-Vésubie | |
| San Salvatore di Tinea | Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée | |
| Sant'Andrea di Nizza | Saint-André-de-la-Roche | |
| Sant'Antonino | Saint-Antonin | |
| Santo Stefano di Tinea | Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée | |
| Saorgio | Saorge | |
| Scarena | L'Escarène | |
| Sospello | Sospel | |
| Tenda | Tende | Until 1947 inprovince of Cuneo. |
| Tieri | Thiéry | |
| Todone | Toudon | |
| Toetto di Scarena | Touët-de-l'Escarène | |
| Toetto di Boglio | Touët-sur-Var | Toetto sul Varo was also used in Italian. |
| Tornaforte | Tournefort | |
| Torretta Levenzo | Tourrette-Levens | |
| Trinità Vittorio | La Trinité | In Italian until 1861, it was calledTrinità Vittorio in honor of theKing of SardiniaVictor Emmanuel I of Sardinia. |
| Turbia | La Turbie | |
| Utello | Utelle | |
| Valdiblora | Valdeblore | |
| Venanzone | Venanson | |
| Villafranca Marittima | Villefranche-sur-Mer | |
| Villar del Varo | Villars-sur-Var |
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