Jets overhead

One of the quarrels about the transfer of Nice and Savoie to France in 1860 concerns nomenclature. The partisans of a francophile Nice yearning to rejoin the patrie tend to use the term 'rattachement', whereas those who would either have liked to see independence, à la Monaco, or continued life with Piedmont, and therefore with Italy in the making, tend to use the term 'annexion', which has a rather negative ring to it, a bit like 'Anschluss' now has in German.

Of course, this regime change in Nice was only one of many transfers of sovereignty which resulted from the later stages of the Risorgimento. Duchies like Parma, grand duchies like Tuscany, and kingdoms like that of the Two Sicilies, all underwent forced conversions, ratified by plebiscites where the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Here in Nice, for instance, the printed ballot paper, crowned by the crest of the emperor Napoléon III, only really existed in a 'yes' version, as there was a mysterious lapse in printing enough 'nos'.

The catholic church, under some pressure financially and politically in Piedmont, jumped at the chance of supporting a move to France, which would then fill their coffers handsomely. Rome was, at the time, garrisoned by the French, so the pope was doubly grateful (or subservient). Priests at the pulpit called the faithful out, parish by parish, to vote behind their sacred banners.

Well, the festivities this time round, one hundred and fifty years later, have still been dominated by ecclesiastics, with masses, parades of penitents both black and white accompanied by the municipal fanfare, as you can see from this shot in Nice Matin. New bells have been cast and blessed, too, so smells and bells are well catered for.

In Lampedusa's Il gattopardo, there is a scene where don Fabrizio, the 'leopard', feels obliged to turn up at the festivities celebrating the outcome of the plebiscite in Donnafugata. Sickly sweet wines in the three colours of the new flag, red, white... and green, are offered. Which one is he to take? It is a decision which requires temporary suspension of the sensitivity of the palate and a simultaneously heightened, acute sensitivity to the politics.

Today, the Patrouille de France aerobatic display team, borrowed by Nice's mayor Christian Estrosi from President Sarkozy, flew low over our terrace and headed for Nice, as if to strafe it. Just as they arrived, in perfect formation, they switched on their coloured vapour trails, which from the viewpoint of Nice must have seemed like the normal blue white and red tricoleur. From the vantage of our roof terrace, however, with the blinding sun behind us, the trails, as they arched gracefully into the sky, appeared suspiciously like the Italian tricolore, with green replacing the blue. Just as with the loaded terms 'rattachement' and 'annexion', the con-trails of the Patrouille de France appeared to signify different things to different people.