Day 79 ~ Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, Part 1—Rothschild’s Villa

April 11, 2018

Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation. ~ Elizabeth Drew

The Pacific Princess anchored in the bay of Villefranche, a small village in the shadow of Nice. I’d half expected this port to be cancelled like our call at Portofino had been, but the Tyrrhenian Sea settled down enough for us to use the ship’s tenders to go ashore. I’d forgotten that so many of these Mediterranean stops were tender ports. I’m not sure whether Princess opts for this because they like to bring us to ports less traveled by the big cruise ships, or if it’s a financial consideration. I would assume anchorage is cheaper than a berth at a dock.

In any case, Villefranche is yet another small town clinging to the side of a cliff. Very picturesque, but how people manage to live there, I can’t imagine. Fortunately, we didn’t have as much of an uphill hike to reach our tour bus this time. They had turned part of an ancient fort into a bus stop! We rode through what used to be the castle moat to reach the highway that would take us to the Baroness Rothschild’s villa, circa 1888.

Our tour bus let us out at the foot of a fairly steep, long drive that led up to the villa. I had to stop once to catch my breath and when our tour guide, Michel discovered I had been in distress, he offered to ask the grounds keeper to give me a ride down in a golf cart when we were ready to leave. I declined. “Down” is my happy place.

The interior of the villa was so worth the climb! Designed around soaring central atrium, it was awash in light and delicate curves. Though the baroness was Jewish, she collected and protected a wealth of Christian art.

The residence reminded me strongly of the Isabel Gardener Museum in Boston. That generous lady also built her home mostly to display her extensive collection of Titians, Rembrandts and John Singer Sergeants. The baroness, like Isabel, was gifted with a fortune and good taste to go with it. Her collection, however, leaned more toward furniture, porcelain and china, fabrics and clothing.

This fireplace screen once belonged to Marie Antoinette

The baroness’s private chambers (the baron had rooms of his own) consist of a boudoir, which is a small receiving room where guests would wait until her ladyship was ready to receive, her bed chamber and a large oval sitting room. At every turn, the villa is decorated with gracefully painted panels. This delightful little detail on the wall between the boudoir and bed chamber shows her interest in Grecian art and culture.

A small photograph on a chest of drawers with intricate wood inlay is the only picture of Beatrice, the baroness, in the home. Her marriage was arranged by her family and she brought the lion’s share of the money to the relationship. It was not a match made in heaven. Of her husband, she said, “The only thing he ever gave me was syphilis.”

The sitting room adjoining her bed chamber is oval in shape because it was built to showcase the oval rug that dominates the room. Notice the child-sized furniture and the china dogs. I don’t remember if she had children. I’ll have to Google it when we get home.

  

Her wardrobe, which is a winding labyrinth of small rooms, is now used to display her collection of Asian clothing and shoes. I had to slip my own size 8 into the photo just to give you an idea of the tininess of these slippers. They are not for children. They are for the tortuously bound feet of wellborn Asia women.

She also collected court clothing from the 18^th century. Note that panniers were worn beneath this gown, not hoops that made the hem stand out in a circle. Panniers extended the hips outward to the sides to emphasize the smallness of a lady’s waist and then the rest of the skirt fell straight to cover the ankles. (Yeah, I’ve worn panniers before back when I sang Susannah in The Marriage of Figaro. You have to be careful to turn slightly sideways when you go through doorways with the silly things.)

And a wide variety of china and porcelain. Our guide Michel told us an astonishing tale about the piece in the center of the top shelf. When asked, we guessed it was a gravy boat, but he told no. It was…well, I can’t remember the French word for it (another job for Google) but it functioned as a “trip extender.” (GA private pilots like my DH, Dad and uncle will understand immediately.) If a lady found herself in need of a privy but she couldn’t leave the church or concert setting where she was, she’d simply slip this handy, dandy little item beneath her voluminous skirts and (hopefully!) wait for a loud hymn!

In addition to the fabulous villa, the estate includes 14 acres of glorious gardens. Since it was raining, we could only enjoy them from the covered portico on the first floor. (Read: 2^nd floor, my dear American friends. What we’d call the first floor is called the Ground floor here.) The fountains were set to music and put on quite a show.

The villa was very grand, very tasteful, but ultimately, I sensed a brooding heaviness in the space. The baroness was not happy here. If you don’t have satisfying relationships with other people, most particularly with those closest to you, there’s not enough money in the world to make up for that lack. 

I’ve covered less than half of our tour, so I’ll share our visit to Monaco on the next post!