Villa Lo Scoglietto - Place David Niven - Now 'La fleur du Cap'

The son of the Sardinian arms supplier bought a few pieces of land in 1880 which formed a little peninsula and built a villa of a modest size with a private port which he initially calls l'Isoletta. Living most of his time in Nice, Albert Bounin often came to Saint Jean to ride his horse or to swim. He built a little cabin at the tip of the land which is linked to the main property by a passarelle.

Villa Fleur du Cap - Saint Jean Cap Ferrat

The villa was then passed onto his son Paul, who was the secretary of the civil hospital of Nice and the town advisor of nice who built an additional floor to the property and renamed it "lo scoglietto (which means little rock in Italian). Within a park of 3000m2, Paul Bounin allowed the"L'esclave de Phidias" with Valentine Petit film to be made in the property.
In 1920, the villa was rented by the Duchess of Marlborough, Mrs Balson during the construction of the property Lou Suil in Eze. The villa was then extended and rented in 1950 to Léopold III the king of Belguim one year before his abdication. Seven years later, the actor Charlie Chaplin spends a few weeks here relaxing with his family. A famous photo with his wife Oona and his five children all sat around the small passarelle, all looking visibly happy to be there. At the end of the 1960s, the English actor David Niven bought the property. One scene from his last film, The Pink Panther by Blake Edwards was filed there one year before his death in 1983. In tribute to the actor, the small place which is found in front of his old residence today carries his name. Superbly restored during recent years, the property is now named 'La Fleur du Cap" which is now much larger than its original size.

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