Monet in Bordighera: three months among palms and gardens

In 1884 Claude Monet arrived in Bordighera by train. He stayed three months and painted dozens of pictures: palms, gardens, olive trees, the Belle Époque villas and the old village overlooking the sea. Many of the places he portrayed can still be found today.

The Pension Anglaise and the town of the foreigners

Monet stayed at the Pension Anglaise, the starting point of his explorations, his thoughts and his letters. Away from the fashionable crowd, he watched society life, the carnival and the spectacle of the sea. In those years Bordighera was full of international figures, such as the French architect Charles Garnier, who built his villa and several other buildings here.

The Moreno Gardens, “pure magic”

What enchanted him above all were the Moreno Gardens, owned by the French consul Francesco Moreno. They covered a vast area from the seafront up to the old town and were famous throughout Europe for their balance of local plants and exotic species. Thanks to a letter of introduction Monet managed to get in, and he was amazed.

“A garden like that is indescribable, it is pure magic, all the plants in the world grow there in the open ground.”

Claude Monet, letter to Alice Hoschedé, 5 February 1884

Today a part of those gardens is dedicated to the painter: the Giardini Monet, on the Via Romana.

Through Monet’s eyes

Along the Via Romana, three “M” signs marked on the ground show the spots where Monet painted. Standing on them, you find his framings again: among palms and exotic plants appear Villa Etelinda, today’s Museo Bicknell, Bordighera Alta and the rise towards Villa Regina Margherita.

From the garden of the Fondazione Pompeo Mariani, in the old town, you can admire some of the most important views he painted. The painter Pompeo Mariani bought the land in 1909 precisely because of the place’s link with Monet, and the olive trees Monet portrayed still grow there, now listed among Italy’s monumental trees.

During his stay Monet also ventured inland, to Dolceacqua, where he painted the old bridge and the castle of the Doria family.

The “In Monet’s footsteps” itinerary

To retrace his steps there is the itinerary In Monet’s footsteps: it starts from the IAT tourist office and takes in the places the painter frequented and painted, with the illustrated map, the GPX track to download and the story told by Pietro, the boy who was his guide.