This Saturday, May 13, at 3 PM at the MAMAC Auditorium – Place Yves Klein
Bruno de Cessole, a journalist and writer, will host the conference “The Spitalieri de Cessole Palace, a Hub of Niçois Sociability.” Coming from the long lineage of the Spitalieri de Cessole family, he will immerse us in the history of this great Niçois family.
The palaces of Old Nice are discussed as one would mention the Italian palazzi or the private mansions of the Marais in Paris. But what exactly does this term encompass? And what remains today of this noble civil architecture?
Built between 1762 and 1768 on Saint-Dominique Square (now Palais Square) and the former Dominican convent for Honoré-François Spitalieri, the first Count of Cessole, the Cessole Palace illustrates the influence of Piedmontese architecture in Nice in the 18th century.
The central part of the building then housed the French Consulate until 1790, followed by the Hôtel d’York, the first travelers’ hotel in Nice, while the lateral part was dedicated to the family’s residence. The palace was the scene of numerous significant events in the city’s history, from the occupation by General d’Anselme (during the invasion of the county by French troops in 1792) to the public meetings preceding Nice’s annexation to France in 1860, including the banquet offered to Garibaldi upon his return from America.
The family palace was also the seat of an intense social and cultural life. It was during a dinner hosted by Joseph de Cessole that the foundations of the Franco-Russian Alliance were allegedly laid in the 1890s. Most of the great musicians of the 19th century were also welcomed there by Hilarion and Eugène de Cessole.
