The events of April in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat celebrates its 120th anniversary and takes the opportunity to highlight its history and culture by organizing events and festivities.

The beginning of the celebrations is scheduled for April 2024.

Separated from Villefranche-sur-Mer in February 1904, the municipality of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat originally had 1034 inhabitants, along with significant infrastructure: a port, a post and telegraph office, a church, a cemetery, and a customs brigade. Its autonomy was largely achieved thanks to the determination of some residents, landowners, and the support of political figures such as Maurice Rouvier, a journalist, banker, and statesman, Dominique Durandy, a lawyer, journalist, and writer, and Denis Séméria, an industrialist and benefactor.

After four years of a long political and administrative process, on February 26, 1904, a law established “Saint-Jean-sur-Mer” as a separate municipality, promulgated by President Émile Loubet. Months later, the new municipal council elected the first mayor of the young municipality, Daniel Chonneaux.

It wasn’t until 1907 that the city took its current name: Saint Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The 120th anniversary celebrations are an opportunity to discover the fascinating history of this peninsula, closely linked to the expansion of the French Riviera during the Belle Époque.

A vacation spot beloved by European nobility at the end of the 19th century and now home to some of the most visited and emblematic tourist attractions of the Riviera, such as Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, coastal paths (customs trails), and the luxurious Le Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat.

Many notable figures have set foot on its territory and even settled there: Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, Edith Piaf, Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor, David Niven, Charlie Chaplin, Curd Jürgens, and the famous writer William Somerset Maugham, just to name a few.

The April festivities program will focus on the sea and ecology and is included at the end of this article.