Cours Saleya

In front of you stretches the Cours Saleya, the great open-air drawing room of Savoyard Nice. It used to be called «la Marina», because this is where the town ended, right at the water's edge.

1A promenade with a view

In the 18th century, the seaward side was closed off by a row of long, low buildings, the «Terrasses», whose flat roofs served as a viewing platform: strollers climbed up to gaze across the bay. The Cours was almost levelled by around 1748, and in 1766 elms were planted in place of the old mulberry trees. This was where the nobility and English visitors came to see and be seen.

All around stood the institutions of the state: the royal palace, the Senate of Nice (the county's supreme court) and the Chapel of Mercy, a Baroque gem on an elliptical plan attributed to the Piedmontese architect Bernardo Vittone. Since 1829 it has belonged to the Black Penitents, a confraternity founded in the 14th century.

2From King Charles Felix to Matisse

In 1827 a monument to King Charles Felix was raised at the eastern end, and the square still bears his name. Much later, in 1921, Henri Matisse rented a flat in the large building that closes off the promenade, the Palais Caïs de Pierlas, where for years he painted his odalisques.

In 1861, by then under the French flag, the town council authorised the city's first flower, fruit and vegetable market here.

3What to look for

• The Chapel of Mercy, with its curved yellow façade.
• The low houses on the south side, heirs to the old terraces.
• The Palais Caïs de Pierlas, at the far end: Matisse's home.