Place Garibaldi is the large arcaded square on the northern edge of Vieux Nice, begun in 1773 as a grand entrance on the road from Turin. Its ochre façades, long arcades and painted trompe-l'œil windows follow the model of Piedmontese squares, a reminder that Nice belonged to the House of Savoy until 1860. Beneath it lie the remains of the old city gate, the Porte Pairolière, found in 2006 during work on the tramway.
Place Garibaldi at a glance
- Where: on the northern edge of the old town (Vieux Nice), between the port and the Promenade du Paillon, with a tram stop on the square.
- Built: from 1773; named after Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1870.
- By: the Turin-born architect Antoine Spinelli.
- What it is today: a busy square of cafés and terraces, with the Garibaldi monument in its central garden, the Blue Penitents' chapel on one side and an archaeological crypt beneath.
- Time needed: 15 minutes for the square, about an hour more if you book a visit to the crypt.
From Piazza Vittorio to Place Garibaldi
In the 18th century Nice belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia, ruled from Turin. To give the city a monumental entrance on the road from Turin, Antoine Spinelli designed a square on the Turin model: uniform façades, arcades for walking in the shade and strict symmetry. Work began in 1773, and the square was first called Piazza Vittorio, after King Victor Amadeus III. In 1782 Spinelli also began the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre on the square for the Blue Penitents, a lay confraternity founded in 1431.
In 1870, ten years after Nice became French, the square took the name of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the hero of Italian unification, who was born in Nice in 1807. The bronze statue in the middle was designed by Antoine Étex, completed by Gustave Deloye and put up in 1891, in a garden with fountains. In 2006, digging for the first tram line uncovered the city's fortifications around the Porte Pairolière, one of its main gates. Louis XIV had ordered them dismantled in 1706, and they had been forgotten for three centuries. The site was listed as a historic monument in 2012, the same year the painted decoration of the façades was restored using 19th-century photographs.
What to look for
- The arcades: walk the full loop under them. The matching ochre fronts and repeated arches are pure Turin, rare on the French Riviera.
- The trompe-l'œil: look up and try to tell which windows, shutters and mouldings are real and which are only painted on the flat walls.
- The Garibaldi monument: the bronze hero on his tall pedestal in the central garden, surrounded by fountains.
- The Chapelle du Saint-Sépulcre: the Blue Penitents' chapel, with a façade that mixes baroque and neoclassical. It reopened in January 2025 after more than five years of restoration, and its two domes were painted by Emmanuel Costa in the late 19th century.
- The crypt beneath your feet: the Crypte archéologique runs under the square and Boulevard Jean Jaurès, with walls, towers and the gate of medieval and Savoyard Nice.
Tips for your visit
- Book ahead for the crypt: there are guided visits on some days and audioguide visits, available in English, on others.
- Come in the morning for a coffee under the arcades before the old town fills up, or at dusk when the façades glow orange.
- Remember that the chapel is a working place of worship: dress respectfully and keep quiet inside.
- Use the square as a crossroads: Rue Pairolière leads into the old town, and Rue Cassini runs down to the port.
Nearby
- Vieux Nice: the narrow lanes of the old town start just south of the square, with the cathedral of Sainte-Réparate and the Cours Saleya market.
- Port Lympia: Nice's old harbour, with its colourful houses and fishing boats, a few minutes' walk down Rue Cassini.
- Colline du Château: the castle hill above the old town, with a park, a waterfall and wide views over the port and the Baie des Anges.
- Promenade du Paillon: the long park built over the covered Paillon river, with its water mirror and fountains.
See Nice with World City Trail
Our Nice scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. It takes around 2 hours, with about 35 minutes of walking, and you can start whenever you like.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Nice.
Play the Nice scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Nice →
Play the outdoor escape game in Nice →
Facts checked in October 2026.