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When sant'ampelio
brought the palms…
Bordighera is born
around 500 years ago.
Its more ancient part is
in the
Paese Alto, to newer in
the Marina, both in the
place Burdighetta,
beginning from the
promontory of Sant’Ampelio.
A legend narrates that,
in the 411 after Christ,
has landed here, coming
from Egypt, a hermit (religious
that lives solitary in a
desert place, making
penitence) named Ampelio
and he has brought the
cultivation of the palm:
with itself it had in
fact a pouch of dates.
It seems besides that
has also introduced the
crop of the grapevine,
over, naturally, to the
word of the Gospel. The
small church that rises
on the "Capo" is built
on the cave in which the
saint lived and died.
In Bordighera the
visitor is welcomed by
that extraordinary "ensemble"
given by the sun, from
the sea, from the hills
and from the vegetation,
natural or cultivated,
what it represents the
authentic "mark of
factory" of the Coast
of West (Riviera di
Ponente). Bordighera
enjoys a favorable
climate that
characterizes the whole
Coast of the Flowers,
serene, sunny and mild
also during the winter,
with absence of
prolonged rains.
In 1800 the
picturesque Via dei
Colli and Via Romana
streets are born, while
the beach is placed side
by side by the
waterfront. It begins
the great season of the
tourism, the
construction of the
princely hotels (for
instance the luxurious
Hotel Angst) where the
European aristocracy,
thrilled by the stories
of the first adventurous
foreigners that already
from a few decades went
discovering the beauties
of the Coast, was deeply
located.
A lot of private villas
were built also, and
Bordighera, become a
real "colony" British,
it operated even an
agency real estate
English, that purchased
and it resold grounds
and residences to the
fellow countrymen. On to
end of the 800 the
number of the foreigners
it overcame the local
people, and the English
had typically brought
the tennis, the pole,
the bridge and the other
british pastimes ,
besides the interest for
the historical and
naturalistic searches.
Bordighera boasts the
first Tennis Club of
Italy (1878) and the
first Museum of the
western Liguria (1888),
the Museum Bricknell (devoted
to the figure of
Clarence Bricknell,
researcher and patron),
founded by the people of
British Queen together
with the International
Civic Library and to
other institutions.
In Bordighera also
sojourned the great
Claude Monet (1884).
CULTURAL ITINERARIES
If beginning from the
second halves of the
'800 was the English to
dominate big part of the
social and cultural life
of Bordighera, it was a
French, the architect
Charles Garnier, to mark
its urbanistic
development. He built a
hanging villa on the sea,
influencing so the style
of a lot of other
ladylike residences of
the city.
Predominant
characteristic of
Bordighera is the
presence of the
vegetation, is
spontaneous is
cultivated in the
gardens or in the
flowers firms. The most
famous garden is the "Winter",
rich of palms, olive
trees, citrus fruit and
Mediterranean vegetation.
Walks in Bordighera you
have to see the "Waterfront
Argentina", that opens
on the bright vision of
a great coastal arc up
to the French Blue Coast.
Place to see:
"Casa di Riposo
Margherita di Savoia"
"Porta Sottana"
"The church of Terra
Santa"
"La spianata di Capo Sant’Ampelio"
(guns aimed at the sea)
"Sant'Ampelio's Church"
"The Pineta of
Bordighera Alta"
"The library"
ITINERARIES IN THE
NATURE
The itineraries in the
hinterland of Bordighera.
the suburbs that
belonged to the "Magnificent
Community".
Places to see:
Borghetto
San Nicoḷ
Sasso
Negi
Vallebona
Vallecrosia
San Biagio della Cima
Soldano
Camporosso
Ancient Principality of
Seborga
TRADITIONS CURIOSITY
It seems that to
Bordighera there is the
biggest numbers of Palm
Trees in the north of
Europe (a real big
numbers of Palms, an
oasis of palms, as in
Africa or in the Middle
East, not the usual
avenue decoration).
Among the demonstrations
the annual International
Saloon of the humor and
the Biennial Philatelist
must be remembered.
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