When Life Gives You Lemons, Beware of the Fascists

We’ve perhaps become accustomed to the same streets of Menton we walk through on a daily basis: the overcrowded Rue Saint Michel, the narrow walls of Rue Longue, under the tunnel or by the beach on the Promenade du Soleil… These streets may seem mundane, but they hold centuries of history and a myriad of stories to tell: from William Webb Ellis, the creator of rugby, enjoying the mild winters by Sablettes, to Italian Fascist troops occupying Mentone and implementing a policy of Italianization, our little coastal town has been through it all. By navigating through a concise history of Menton, there’s a chance that you may perceive those same mundane streets in a completely different light.

Menton was founded by the Genoese Vento Family in the 13th century. It was soon acquired by the House of Grimaldi – the Princes of Monaco – in 1346, and remained part of the Principality of Monaco for over 500 years. The infamous year of 1848 saw a wave of revolutions sweep through Europe, and the town of Menton was sure not to miss out on the action. Frustrated by the Principality’s heavy taxation on the iconic Mentonese lemons, the inhabitants of the small coastal town asked the Piedmont-Sardinian Kingdom for protection. This culminated in the declaration of Mentonese independence on March 21, forming the Republic of Menton and Roccabruna.

However, friends turned into foes, and the Kingdom of Sardinia annexed Menton on November 10th as a constituent part of the county of Nice. Flash forward to 1860, Napoleon III lent assistance to the Italian unification movement against the Hagsburg Empire; in exchange, the House of Savoy agreed to territorial concessions, including Menton. Hence, Menton officially became French on June 14 of the same year.

In the late 19th century, Menton became a major tourist destination after being discovered by British and French elites. The small town drew much attention with its exceptional winter climate, with the likes of Dr James Henry Bennett spending 20 consecutive winters in Menton. The French writer Elisée Reclus coined Menton as being the “pearl of France” in his 1875 work Géographie universelle.

A notable British elite who retreated to Menton during the coldest months of the year was William Webb Ellis, who is credited with having invented rugby. Ellis passed away during one of his winter stays, and he was buried in the Lemon Town – his tomb is today found in Le Cimetière du Vieux Château and is open to visits. 

The two World Wars of the 20th century would revolutionize Menton’s tourism and bestow the Pearl of France with the prestige it holds today. Following the First World War, Menton was included in Italy’s irredentist agenda: there was a notion of revanchism regarding the territories ceded to France in 1860. As the Germans approached Paris in their unprecedented invasion of 1940, Mussolini’s Italy scrambled to invade the French Riviera. 

On June 22, the Italian troops officially invaded Menton. The small town was solely defended by nine Frenchmen, who created a small Maginot Line bunker at Pont Saint-Louis  (this historical landmark is only 4km away from the Sciences Po Menton campus, and is open to visits) and resisted against the 4,000 marching Italians for 14 days. 

Eventually, the French were forced to retreat and the French-Italian Armistice of June 24 1940 was signed. Menton was officially annexed by Fascist Italy, and it soon faced a pernicious Italianization policy: the town was officially renamed “Mentone” and the Caserne Forty (today’s Hôtel de police municipale in 7 Rue Galliéni) was turned into the Judiciary Prison of Menton, serving as a detention center for regime opponents and political prisoners.

When Mussolini was toppled in 1943, Nazi Germany took charge of the South-Eastern French territories, and Menton was now in the hands of the German garrison. With them came the persecution of local Jews, heavy civilian evacuations, whilst the Judiciary Prison kept its function. On September 8 1944, the Allies liberated Menton and restored the town to the new French Republic.

Throughout the post-war period, Menton shifted from Belle Époque tourism and became a modern Mediterranean leisure hub. In the 1950s, artists such as Jean Cocteau chose Menton as their primary creative  base. During his stay, Cocteau redesigned the Le Bastion fort and established the “Jean Cocteau Museum” which is now a major tourist attraction in town. Nevertheless, Menton would still retain major Italian influences, with many locals being bilingual and maintaining a “dolce vita” approach to quotidian affairs. This melting pot of French-Italian-Monégasque culture and history ensures that Menton stands out in the French Riviera respectively. 

These centuries of events, stories and conquest shaped the Menton we know today. Although merely a small coastal town, Menton did not escape the turmoil of European history. Bearing this history in mind, we may begin to see a new side to Menton and to its “mundane” streets, and perhaps we may bear a different consciousness to our daily commutes.

Photo Source: Suzanne Marie Georgette Gheysens, Wikimedia Commons