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The French Riviera (‘Côte d’Azur’, in French, which literally means the ‘Azure Coast’) got this nickname and won its spurs thanks to artists, aristocrats and cocottes who quickly chose this place as their favourite for their holiday. Nowadays, this chic and socialite taste and lifestyle are conveyed by the luxury hotels of Nice, the capital of the French Riviera... Luxury hotels such as the Negresco and the Carlton, whose one of the towers was directly moulded from one of the Belle Otero’s breasts! This is the kind of story you will discover by reading this beautifully illustrated book!

Authors: Alain Bottaro, Véronique Thuin-Chaudron, Michel Steve, Jean-Louis Panicacci

Publishing House: Gilleta

Publication Date: November 2019

Since the end of the 18th century, Nice, with its modest size, has been popular among foreigners who seek its location mainly for its climate. After it became part of France, the construction of numerous hotels and palaces, as vast as they were elegant, enabled it to welcome royal families and heads of state from all over Europe to holiday on the Côte d'Azur. Brilliant architects built sumptuous residences, where the masterly ornamentation of the facades was matched by a desire for modern interior comfort, which was completed by private gardens and parks, veritable plant paradises and dreams of the Orient. Unfortunately, the First World War spared no one and Nice had to adapt to the scarcity of luxury customers. Gradually, the Belle Époque style gave way to Art Deco: the fashion for apartment-hotels became all the rage. At the end of the Thirty Glorious Years, the hotel industry experienced an unprecedented upheaval: chains and groups became the leading investors in tourism. Since 1980, globalisation has increased the importance of tour operators and has led to a new dimension in the history of the hotel industry. This book, full of illustrations and accompanied by an unpublished historical atlas, was written by a group of renowned specialists (Alain Bottaro, Véronique Thuin-Chaudron, Pierre-André Hélène, Eliane Schor, Jean-Louis Panicacci, Alain Callais, Michel Tschann, François Jouvet and Landy Blanc). It provides a fascinating insight into the hotel industry's heritage, which is now a permanent part of the city's soul.