Grove Koger

It’s known formally Villefranche-sur-Mer, but the suffix is seldom used.

In any case, Villefranche is a port on the Mediterranean coast of France, west of the French-Italian border and just east of Nice. Its bay is deep, and over the years it’s figured prominently in naval affairs, although now its greatest importance seems to be as a port of call for cruise ships.

My interest in Villefranche is cultural, and I once hoped to visit it as part of a modest writing assignment. However, the assignment took Maggie and me instead to the Basque Country, where we had what I’m sure was just as pleasant a time as we would have on the Riviera.

I had planned to visit two buildings in Villefranche. The first, in terms of chronology if not importance, is the Chapelle Saint-Pierre, a modest chapel at 4 Quai Courbet built in the 16th century but decorated in 1957 with frescoes by that most protean of cultural figures, Jean Cocteau. Aside from his many writings (fictional, dramatic, and otherwise) and his highly influential films, Cocteau was a graphic artist of note. And although his drawings are more striking than his paintings (which are essentially drawings with some color added), the frescoes he created for the modest chapel are outstanding. Mixing abstract designs with sacred and profane imagery—punkish angels, fishermen and their wives, and Pierre (Peter) himself, who was the saint of fishermen, shipbuilders, and fishermen—it’s a monument to life itself.

The Chapelle Saint-Pierre was listed as a Historic Monument in December 1996 and received a 20th Century Heritage label in 2001.

The second building of cultural significance is the Villa Nellcôte (10 Avenue Louise Bordes), which dates only from the 1890s and was originally known as the Château Amicitia. It was here, in the villa’s basement, in the early 1970s, that the Rolling Stones recorded the songs that were released in 1972 as the double album Exiles on Main Street, generally rated as the best rock album ever recorded. More specifically, the villa was leased by Keith Richards in April 1971, although the guitarist was forced to vacate only a few months later over legal problems involving his use of marijuana.

Exile is an album inspired by Black American music, played by British musicians, and recorded in France. As eclectic as that sounds (and is), I don’t think there’s a better embodiment of the pain and the promise of those exciting times.

For more information about Cocteau and the Chapelle Saint-Pierre, I recommend An Impersonation of Angels by Frederick Brown (New York: Viking, 1968) and Cocteau by Francis Steegmuller (Boston: Atlantic Monthly, 1970), as well as (if you can put your hands on it) Cocteau’s attractive little book La Chapelle Saint Pierre, Villefranche sur Mer (Monaco: Éditions du Rocher, 1967). And for more information about the events at the Villa Nellcôte, musical and otherwise, read Robert Greenfield’s Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones (Da Capo, 2006). Or, better still, just listen to the album, which you’ll find on YouTube if you don’t already own it. You’ll be glad you did.  

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