9,834 views
The mildness of the Mediterranean, the benevolent protection of the mountains, more than 300 days of sunshine per year and temperatures that rarely drop below 11 degrees… ✋A Max of Heritage and Discoveries ???? https://bit.ly/49wwHx5 ???? Subscribe! ???? This is the “French Riviera”, a small part of the Côte d'Azur that stretches from Nice to Menton, on the border of France and Italy. This corner of paradise enjoys a subtropical microclimate unique in France, ideal for gardens to flourish. It alone concentrates nearly 25,000 species of plants and 10% of the world's flora! All along this coast, nature is exuberant: palm trees, mimosas, exotic flowers, plants from the ends of the earth... This very colorful nature owes a lot to the hand of man. The first gardens date back to the middle of the 19th century. Before 1850, only traditional food crops grew on this scrubland, such as olive trees, chestnut trees and especially lemon trees... Lemons, Menton's specialty since the 17th century! Passed down from generation to generation, this know-how has allowed this citrus fruit with its very particular taste to survive... As the famous "Promenade des Anglais" in Nice reminds us by its name, it was the English - wealthy ones - who made this little stretch of coastline famous. Between 1860 and 1930, villas surrounded by fabulous gardens were built all over the "French Riviera", with the Mediterranean as a backdrop... However, some of these plant treasures are now under threat. This is the case of the Phoenix palm, the symbol of the coast, attacked by a formidable parasite, the red palm weevil. A rescue operation is currently underway in Menton. Passionate gardeners and landscapers open the doors of these fabulous homes to us... A film by Nadia Cleitman A TSVP production