You can Spare 2 HOURS
Your step will lead you to La Citadelle (The Citadel) and its gardens. From there go to the old city and its streets, do not miss the Rue Obscure ( Dark Street) and the Eglise St Michel (St Michael Church), and especially the Chapelle St Pierre ( St Peter Chapel) decorated by Jean Cocteau.
You can Spare HALF DAY
Your step will lead you to La Citadelle (The Citadel) and its gardens. From there go to the old city and its streets, do not miss the Rue Obscure ( Dark Street) and the Eglise St Michel (St Michael Church), and especially the Chapelle St Pierre ( St Peter Chapel) decorated by Jean Cocteau.
Complete your discovery of our city by visiting museums of the citadel and why not a little shopping in the old city.
You can Spare ONE DAY
Continue your road to Port Royal de la Darse ( Royal Darse Harbour) and enjoy our temporary exhibitions in the Citadel and the heart of the old city.
To discover closed to Villefranche
Between Nizza and Monaco-Menton : Monte Carlo, Eze Village, Beaulieu, St Jean de Cap Ferrat, La Turbie Cap D’Ail.
Museums in the heart of a 16th century citadel
The first jewel of the Citadel’s collections is the monument itself, which offers a completely exceptional historical setting for the museographic spaces “split” throughout the monument.
The Citadel of Villefranche-sur-Mer, classified as a Historic Monument, is a bastioned fortress which was built from 1554 on behalf of the Duke of Savoy Emmanuel-Philibert.
Erected to fulfill the role of sentinel of the harbour, this fortress underwent many more or less glorious sieges in the service of the House of Savoy. After the attachment of the County of Nice to France in 1860, the Citadel kept its military vocation until 1965, when it was bought by the Commune of Villefranche.
The Citadel was restored from 1979. In 1981, the city council decided to install the administrative center and a cultural center there. You can discover it during a guided tour. The Citadelle also offers you the possibility of organizing an event or a congress.
The Citadel museums
the Fondation Volti museum “A dream of flesh in a stone setting”
the Goetz-Boumeester museum “From figurative to abstract”
the Roux collection “Let’s dive into the legend”
the souvenir room of the 24th BCA
Guided Tour of the Old Town and the Citadel
reservation by telephone. 04 93 76 33 30
Fridays at 10 a.m. from mid-April to mid-October in front of the Citadel
5€/person (free for children under 12).
“Burlesque tours of the Citadel”
From June to September
Characters full of humor
Introduce you to the history of Villefranche and its Citadel
6€/pers.
“Cultural Escapes”
The museums of the Côte d’Azur
