Baroness Ephrussi Rothschild's Villa

The girls just visited the sumptuous Rothschild villa near Cap Ferrat, about 20 minutes outside of Nice. We heard something about a mouse that guides kids on a scavenger hunt around the grounds so we thought we better check it out. It turned out to be a little notebook (with a picture of a mouse) that the kids were given with various clues for them to seek out… This sort of activity was exactly what the kids needed, keeping them interested and moving (and looking behind sculptures, finding the meaning of pediment and column, as well as running forward to look for a certain goddess sculpture).

Background: The Baroness Rothschild was herself a wealthy heiress who married a wealthy banker (Ephrussi) and then devoted her life to travel, architecture and collecting art and antiques. After her death at age 75 in 1934 her amazing house became property of the Academie des Beaux Arts in France who now open her home to interested tourists.

A few things that the Baroness adored: pink, Marie-Antoinette’s court at Versailles, and sumptuous gardens filled with exotic animals. Her house was built with views towards two bays and in the fashion of the fine Renaissance- era Italian palazzos. The villa is at the prow (her gardens were set up in the shape of a ship with her house at the tip) of nine amazing themed gardens. There is a formal French garden, a wild ‘provencal’ (this region) garden, an exotic garden with rare trees and a huge variety of cacti, a Rose garden, Spanish garden with pink marble columns and a grotto with dolphin fountain, a stone garden with gargoyles and arches from long ago, and a stark Japanese garden. This villa is one of the few open houses in which us outsiders can view the luxuriousness of the “Belle Epoque” which is a term you hear a lot in Nice. Meaning “Beautiful Era”, it was a period in European history that began in the late 1800s and lasted until the ‘fall’ of World War I. This time was when peace in Europe prevailed, people became rich in trade and train travel became commonplace.

The most amazing aspect of the Villa Ephrusi for us: the musical fountains! Every twenty minutes the music would sound and a series of maybe 20 fountains would unleash their crazy spouts and would do a wild water dance to the music. Captivating! What a great day….