Italyriviera Real Estate

The village of Bordighera was already founded in the 4th century BC  . From 1682 until the Napoleonic  period, Bordighera was the capital of a small republic  of  villages of the neighboring valleys.

Bordighera  is known as the City of Palms - a place with a climate so mild that winter just doesn’t exist. And the evidence of this is that not only do palms grow here
(an entire forest of them, not just the usual boulevard) but banana trees and lemon and orange orchards.

This seaside town with its own little fishing harbour offers a peaceful and restful holiday destination with hotels that seem to pride themselves on offering a warm welcome.

Bordighera on the Italian Riviera is  close to the border with France. This is a place surrounded by medieval villages that are so beautiful, Claude Monet  , the famous French painter , chose to paint them.

Despite being in Italy, the town of Bordighera is full of English charm probably because it was a popular resort for the English in the late 1800s, and was visited by Queen Victoria.

In the early 1900s there were more English living in the town than Italians though most left during wartime.

Now, as you walk around the town, the evidence of that English invasion is everywhere a beautiful old museum set up by philanthropist and naturalist Clarence Bricknell in 1888, an English church (now used as an exhibitions centre and concert venue) and much more.

In fact, Bordighera was the site of Italy’s first tennis club, set up in 1878 at the behest of the large British community.

Today, the town is full of stylish side streets, flanked by spectacular villas, mansions and comfortable hotels. Climb upwards from the sea and you can visit several incredible medieval villages.

One is Dolceacqua, a maze of steep, narrow little streets with houses many storeys high, all linked with arches. Painted by Monet, this is a village of outstanding beauty.

A 30-minute ride by car takes you to another fascinating place the medieval village of Apricale with its abundance of little taverns and eating places, which is well worth a visit.

Bordighera is very close to the border with France  indeed the best way to get there,  is with a flight to Nice followed by a 40-minute journey by motorway to the town, passing through many tunnels hewn through the mountain rock.

You can also take the more leisurely coastal road. From our hotel, a 20-minute drive takes you into the bustling French town of Menton with its huge market and sandy beaches (different to the pebble beaches of Bordighera). Another 10 minutes in the car from Menton and incredibly you are in Monaco with all its glitz and glamour. All these places are quickly reached by train as Bordighera has a good station and rail service. The nearest big Italian town is San Remo, which is little more than 20 minutes away by car.

And that’s the beauty of a visit to Bordighera there’s so much to do, so many places to see and all so different. Where else in Italy can you spend the morning by the seaside, visit a quaint medieval village for a spot of lunch, then in the afternoon pop into France to do a bit of shopping, and then gamble the night away in Monte Carlo?

The Scottish writer George MacDonald lived and worked for parts of the year in Bordhigera. His house was an important cultural centre for the British colony. He is buried at the churchyard of the former Anglican church.

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