Savills Portugal

Tender is the Night, The Great Gatsby, both conjure up the heydays of the French Riviera, where jazz ruled, champagne flowed, Art Deco was the order of the day and the tycoons, film stars and aristocrats rubbed shoulders on the Croisette, the Promenade or in the casinos of Monte Carlo.

Indeed, whilst the British aristocracy had led the way for the winter boom of the Riviera’s popularity as a remedy for all and everything, bringing with them palatial villas, gardens, croquet and tea, the 1930’s American and artist set put the Riviera on the international map for literature, art and the French "art de vivre », and Coco Chanel herself turned a tan into a fashionable must-have.

Wherever you visit on the Riviera, you are never far from the former stomping grounds of Fitzgerald, the Murphy’s, Hemingway, Man Ray or Picasso. Styles may have changed, but their influence still lingers. From the popularity of the Eden Roc, the magic worked by Cocteau on the once austere Villefranche chapel or the sheer decadence of the villas and hotels which hosted the soirées, the socialites, the antics, the affairs and the more serious literary discussions - of course.

We cannot go back to that time but this selection of beautiful French Riviera Villas gives a nod to the heady Golden age, where you can glimpse the ghosts of yesteryear against the backdrop of the awe-inspiring coastal scenes, and Alp-lined vistas of the “Sweet South of France”* (F. Scott Fitzgerald – How to live on practically nothing a year.)

If you are looking to move to the Côte d’Azur, trust the knowledgeable international agent with a powerful network of local offices. Think Property. Think Savills.