Place Garibaldi

In front of you opens the most Piedmontese square in Nice. That is no accident: it was designed as the grand entrance for the road from Turin, capital of the Kings of Sardinia.

1A square for the king

Work began in 1773 to plans by the architect Antoine Spinelli. In 1780, when King Victor Amadeus III decided to make the royal road between Nice and Turin passable for carriages, the square took its final form, with arcades on all four sides. The road arrived from the north; to the south, the neoclassical front of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, home of the Blue Penitents, closed the view. For decades it was known as Place Victor, in the king's honour.

2A son of the city

Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in Nice on 4 July 1807, near the harbour. Sailor, revolutionary and general, he was one of the architects of Italian unification. Elected member of parliament for Nice in 1860, he fiercely opposed handing his city over to France.

The square took his name on 13 September 1870, and his monument was unveiled in 1891.

In 1871 the people of Nice elected him again, this time to the French National Assembly, and the city went through several days of rioting against the annexation. In 2007, to make way for the tram, the statue was moved a few metres south.

3What to look for

• The statue of Garibaldi, gazing towards the Old Town.
• The trompe-l'œil on the façades: many of the windows are only paint.
• The Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, on the south side.