ANTIBES

Antibes was originally called Antipolis, which means ‘the town opposite’ in Greek  (opposite what exactly is a matter of historical debate) and was founded by Phoenicians (Greeks from Asia Minor), who opened a trading post in the fourth century BC. When the Romans settled there, Antipolis became Antiboule and theaters, amphitheaters, baths and other water systems started emerging. The city became an important trading port in the Mediterranean at this time.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Antibes became a bishopric and had to face repeated invasions by the Goths, the Visigoths and the Saracens. It protected itself by building the walls and square towers that watch over the old town to this day. In the eleventh century, Antibes was the departure point for the First Crusade. In the fourteenth century the Grimaldi family acceded to the lordship of Antibes and moved into the castle that stands to this day and is now the Picasso museum. The sixteenth century saw Antibes suffer new attacks from various European armies, including those of Charles Quint. Following the attacks, Henry II undertook significant fortification works, including the building of Fort Carré, which continued under Louis XVI who entrusted Vauban to complete the fort and the ramparts, hence why Antibes Port is called Port Vauban. The improved fortifications of Antibes proved their worth during the siege of the city by the Austrians in the eighteenth century – despite using 2600 bombs and 200 fire pots the Austrians failed to take Antibes. The long military history of Antibes, which faced many invasions throughout the centuries, ended with the attachment of the County of Nice to France in 1860. Antibes no longer needed to maintain its role as a city guard of the French territory Thus began the dismantling of the walls that surrounded the city in 1896. The expansion of Antibes started at that time and seaside tourism started to grow, especially in the resort of Juan-les-Pins. Under the leadership of American billionaire Frank Jay Gould, who built the famous palace "the Provence" and the casino, Juan became the meeting place for elegant millionaires and artists who, like Scott Fitzgerald, invented the ‘den of iniquity where one relearns freedom and the pleasures of sunshine’. The city continued to grow after World War I but has been less urbanized than other parts of the coast. This is perhaps the secret of its charm even today, inspiring artists such as Prévert, Audiberti, Greene, Picasso and Monet to find in the old stones of the castle a new source of inspiration.