The town of Antibes has a long and fascinating history that stretches back about 2,500 years. Most of you aren’t historians, but I think a bit of historical background will make your visit there much richer. So let me give you a condensed version of the long story of Antibes.
The name Antibes comes from the Greek name Antipolis (Antipolis, or in plain English, “the city opposite”), since Antibes sits across from Nice (which back then was called Níkaia). According to quite a few archaeological studies, the Greeks arrived there as early as the 4th century BCE and ruled the area until the 1st century BCE.
The Romans were the ones who replaced the Greeks, annexing Antibes in 43 BCE and turning it into one of the largest cities in the region. Luckily for us, quite a few remains from that Roman city have survived, and among other things you can see preserved villas, an amphitheater, and the remains of several aqueducts nearby that once carried water into the city.
Antibes remained a Roman city until the empire’s collapse in the late 5th century, after which it came under the rule of the Frankish kingdom, first the Merovingian dynasty and later the Carolingians. These were years of long stretches of instability and war in the region, including invasions by Saracens (Muslims from North Africa and Spain).
Eventually Antibes became part of the County of Provence, when Count Guillaume I (955-994) managed to drive the Muslims out and earned the nickname “Guillaume the Liberator.” Guillaume granted Antibes to Rodoald, one of his knights, and his family ruled Antibes until the middle of the 11th century.
Antibes from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century
Around the year 1050, Rodoald’s great-great-grandson sold Antibes to the Catholic Church and moved to live in Grasse. Over the following centuries, the Saracens went back to harassing the residents of Antibes, and even burned down the cathedral. As a result, in 1244, the Bishop of Antibes moved to the city of Grasse, and his successors refused to return to Antibes for the next 500 years (despite the beautiful cathedral the locals built in their honor).
During the 14th century, a conflict broke out between the Bishop of Antibes, who as mentioned was based in Grasse, and the mother of the Count of Provence, who was ruling the county as regent due to her son’s young age. These were the years of the Western Schism, when two popes, one in Avignon and one in Rome, fought each other for control of the Catholic Church.
During this struggle, it turned out the Bishop of Antibes supported one pope while the regent supported the other. The bishop refused to switch his support to the pope backed by the regent, so she decided to take Antibes away from him and hand it over to the Grimaldi brothers.
The Grimaldi family is better known today as the family that still rules Monaco, but as a result of the Schism, it found itself ruling Antibes as well, and it’s responsible for the Château Grimaldi in the old town, which today houses the Musée Picasso.
Before we get to the great painter and how he came to Antibes, let’s go back to the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance.
In 1481, the last Count of Provence died, and Antibes passed to the French crown. A little over a decade later, Charles VIII (r. 1483-1498) invaded the Italian peninsula with the goal of conquering the Kingdom of Naples, launching a 65-year period of wars between France on one side and Spain and the Holy Roman Empire on the other.
Antibes found itself right on the front line, on the border with the County of Nice, which belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. In 1536, Spanish forces led by Andrea Doria (1466-1560) succeeded in capturing Antibes.
When France managed to retake Antibes, King Henri II (r. 1547-1559) decided to fortify the city, building a new wall and towers. The most important piece of this fortification system was Fort Carré, which still stands today and can be visited.
Relative calm returned to Antibes during the 17th century, which didn’t stop Louis XIV from sending his number-one expert in fortifications, Vauban (Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, 1633-1707), to improve the defenses and make Antibes nearly impossible to capture.
Vauban’s new fortifications did their job well. In December 1746, during the War of the Austrian Succession, the fortifications held off the Austrian army and kept it from taking the city. During the siege, however, hundreds of artillery shells were fired, destroying a large part of the city. One of the important buildings destroyed was the cathedral of Antibes, but once the war ended it was rebuilt under Louis XV (r. 1715-1774), and that’s the cathedral you’ll see when you visit the city today.
The next time Antibes made its mark on history was in 1815, when Napoleon escaped from Elba and came ashore at Golfe-Juan, not far from here. If you’d like to read about his time in Antibes and the journey that led him back to the imperial throne in Paris (and to defeat at Waterloo), feel free to check out the article on the Route Napoléon.
From Fortress Town to a City of Tourism and Art
In 1860, the County of Nice became part of France, and overnight Antibes stopped being a border town. The Saracen, Austrian and Spanish invaders were replaced by an entirely different kind of invasion: tourists. Just as in Nice and Cannes, the English arrived here too, falling in love with the sun of the French Riviera, and here too they began building hotels and grand villas.
One of those tourists who came to Antibes was none other than Picasso himself, who arrived in 1946 at the invitation of his friend, the painter and socialite Gerald Clery Murphy (1888-1964). Picasso was invited by the leaders of Antibes to stay at the Château Grimaldi, which the city had bought about 20 years earlier, and he worked there for about six months.
As a token of thanks, Picasso, who by then was already a famous and wealthy artist, decided to give Antibes everything he had created there, and these works became the foundation of the Musée Picasso, which I visited in July 2023 and which I’ll cover in an upcoming article about what to see in Antibes.
More Recommended Articles for Travelers to Antibes and the Riviera
That was the history of Antibes, in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed it. Here are a few more articles that might help if you’re planning a trip to the French Riviera:
- Recommended hotels in Antibes, as you’ve seen, Antibes has a rich history and plenty to do. So to really enjoy the city, I recommend staying there, even just for a few days. If you decide to take my advice, you’ll find a list of excellent hotels at a range of prices in this article.
- Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Riviera’s village of artists, this charming village is about a 40-minute drive from Antibes, and if you’ve rented a car, it’s well worth setting aside at least half a day for it.
- What to do in Cannes, Cannes is about a 30-minute drive from Antibes and is definitely worth a visit (not just during the film festival).
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