Located on the South-East coast of France, on the Mediterranean sea, Nice is called ‘Nice la Belle’ (Nice the Beautiful). In the 18th century, its landscape and mild climate attracted the English upper classes, who took to spending their winter there; the ‘Promenade des Anglais’ (the Walkway of the English) owes its name to this habit. The ‘place Masséna’, the main square of the city, is a two-minute walk from there.

NICE

In ‘place Masséna’ in Nice, Neri’s task was to reproduce 44 steel and cast iron posts with an original shape dating back to the years between the two World Wars.

REPRODUCTION

The reproduction coincided with the redesign and reorganisation project of the ‘piazza’, signed by architect Bruno Fortier, who has introduced a big revolution in the urban mobility by reactivating the tram rail. The lighting design project is by Light Cibles.

The restoration of the original posts hasn’t been possible because of the technical improvements required by the designers. The news posts have been reproduced to look exactly like the old ones, but re-designed and improved technically to ease maintenance.

RESTORATION

Under the porches, all the 100 glass and cast brass lanterns have been restored, as well as those large circular hanging lanterns also found south of the square. The lighting performance of all the restored fixtures has been improved.