Polychromatic architecture is one of the distinctive features of the Riviera. On these shores, every town with a history of Genoese influence will have historic buildings painted with a striking array of yellows, reds, pinks, ochres and greens. The colours are broadly the same all along the coast, be it in large cities like Nice, Genoa and Monaco or in small towns like Villefranche and Portofino. So what’s the story behind this signature palette?
Legend has it that seafarers used to paint their houses in brilliant, recognisable colours so that they could easily spot their homes from the sea (and keep an eye on domestic goings-on). But the truth is that the colours only became this bright relatively recently. Historians examining the pigmentation of medieval buildings on the Cinque Terre uncovered an original palette of no more than 8 baseline colours, all shades of beige and ochre that were obtained using natural pigments found in local stone and soil. As 19th century technology improved the quality and range of paint colours available, new hues were added, notably red and olive green. Today, experts are able to count up to 16 colour categories.
A recent planning survey of the city of Albenga showed that 43% of building façades are yellow, 29% are pink, 7% are red, 4% are orange and 3% are beige. Other colours include brown and green, although these must by law be in the minority. In fact, the planning rules governing building façades are very strict. In Italy, they have regulated since at least 1987 and in 2003 the regional government went even further, declaring façade colours “a fundamental value” of the Ligurian people. In Nice and Monaco, every shade of colour (of façades, features and shutters) must come from a pre-approved colour chart guide known as the local nuancier.
Façades do not have to have a single tone; in fact, the play on colours is just as important a feature of local architecture. Churches, in particular, are painted with several colours, often red, yellow and green. Buildings features like ledges and balustrades are often painted in lighter shades or plain white, so that they stand out. Those buildings that have plain façades with no features can still benefit from a splash of multicolour with the use of the clever trompe l’œiltechnique. Meaning “trick of the eye” in French, this technique is used to add symmetry to simply to create the illusion of intricate relief. There are stunning examples of trompe l’œil all along the Riviera, and especially in places near Genoa.
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Sources:
Albenga survey on building façades: http://www.comune.albenga.sv.it/upload/albenga_ecm8/gestionedocumentale/3.CatalogoColori_784_4795.pdf
Research on Cinque Terre building colours:
Nice's colour chart (nuancier)
Monaco's colour chart (nuancier)
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