The City of Nice
Nice Photo by justinknabb
Nice is a city in the southeast of France, and is a prefecture of the department of the Alpes-Maritimes. It is the second city of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur behind Marseille. Situated in the southeast extremity of France, within thirty kilometers of the Italian border, Nice is an established resort on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Bay of Angels.
Situated between sea and mountains, Nice is the economic capital of Côte d’Azur, and benefits from natural trump cards: Tourism occupies an important place in the economic activity of the city. Nice possesses the second best hotel capacity in the country and welcomes about 4 million tourists every year. Nice also has the third busiest airport in France.
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Climate of Nice
The climate of the city is typical of a Mediterranean location, the frost being generally rare – just 2 or 3 nights a year. The minimum temperature is 1 or 2 °C and does not last long. So the winters are soft and wet, and summers warm and very dry, as Nice is protected from winds coming from the north and west thanks to the Alps. During summer the precipitation is extremely low. Whereas, the autumn is subject to frequent rains and often accompanied by violent thunderstorms due to the temperature of the still very warm Mediterranean Sea (20 ° – 24 °). This season is often marked in some years by the sirocco (which often result in a heat and wind blown Saharan sand.
Nice’s Architecture
The architecture of the city showcases its evolution through its history. The old Nice has the characteristic of the town planning of an Italian fortified city. Streets are very narrow and tortuous; buildings are painted with warm colors (ochre or red). The numerous churches are of baroque style. Districts built at the end of modern period and at the beginning of the XIXth century reflect the influence of Turinese town planning: streets are wider and more rectilinear; buildings are colored.
Districts built after the annexation in France in 1860 are of a much more austere and more Haussmann style: streets are wide and very straight, but the natural stone replaces the coloured facades. These districts are much more “French” than the others, which remain aesthetically very “Italian”.
The history of Nice is essentially characterized by two elements. The first element is the fact that the City borders with Italy and therefore its population was made up of an eclectic population, with people from Provence, Savoie and Piedmontese (Italians). The second element is the rapid expansion of the city in terms of size and also its cultural differences. Now it’s extremely common to meet Russians, Italians, English and American people living and working in Nice.
These two elements have important consequences on employment, plus the political, economic, and cultural development of the city of Nice.
