Mediterranean Garden Society
A Unique Seaside Garden in Marseille
by Duncan J.D. Smith
photos by Duncan J.D. Smith
Photographs to illustrate the article published in The Mediterranean Garden No. 119, January 2025
The photo at the top of this page shows a view across the Villa Santa Lucia (photo Anne Christine Renard)
Duncan writes: An especially enjoyable aspect of my work as a travel writer and guidebook author is to visit idiosyncratic gardens. This has certainly been the case during my recent sojourn in Marseille, the oldest city in France.
A garden unique in Marseille can be found at the Villa Santa Lucia in the Roucas Blanc neighbourhood (7th Arrondissement). The villa was built in 1860 at the top of a steep plot of land overlooking the coast-hugging Corniche Kennedy and the Plage du Prophète. The garden, which is laid out across seven terraces, known in Provence as restanques, is surrounded by a high stone wall. Access for visitors is either from above via Traverse Nicolas or from below by means of the 300-step Montée de la Napoule.
The garden is laid out across seven terraces
Between 1887 and 1905, the villa was occupied by the Mullot family. They enlarged the villa and during the 1890s created a magical pleasure garden. Most importantly, they commissioned the faux stalactite grottoes, rustic handrails and bamboo belvedere, all painstakingly constructed from cement on a sturdy wire frame. These features are representative of the art of rocaille landscaping, which was in vogue in Marseille between 1870 and the Great War. In two places in the garden there can be seen the signature of Gaspard Gardini, an Italian master of the technique, who worked here between 1892 and 1894. Look out for his humorous touches, including a Pierrot peeping through a window and a soldier looking out from behind the battlements of a miniature castle.
During the Mullot family’s tenure, the villa was known as the Maison Blanche. Later, in 1922, it was purchased by a Mrs. John Khan, who renamed it La Meunière. In all, the villa changed hands some fifteen times until 1984, when it was acquired by the present owners, the Renard family. By their time, the property was known as the Villa Santa Lucia and it is they who share the garden with today’s visitors, including schoolchildren, students and company employees. The family are rightly proud of the garden’s organic and sustainable credentials.
Man-made structures aside, the garden’s south-westerly aspect favours an impressive collection of Mediterranean and subtropical plants numbering more than 200 species. These are the result of a major replanting in 1979, when exotic species were introduced by Parisian landscape gardener Tobie Loup de Vianne, to supplement the existing indigenous stone pines (Pinus pinea). From 1984 onwards, owner Jean-Léopold Renard diligently restored the rockwork terraces and belvedere. For his efforts, in 2009 he received the Special Prize of the Prince Louis de Polignac Foundation in Paris.
Pinus pinea, Cupressus sempervirens and Butia odorata
The garden’s trees today include the columnar Mediterranean or Florence cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) (sometimes called in France Cyprès de Provence), the Japanese sago cycad (Cycas revoluta), the evergreen Magnolia grandiflora and the humble European olive (Olea europaea). There are also citrus trees, including the thick-skinned citron (Citrus medica) and its more common hybrid the lemon (Citrus × limon), the bitter orange (Citrus × aurantium), the bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia) and the kumquat (Citrus japonica syn. Fortunella japonica). And there are various palm trees too, including the South American jelly palm (Butia odorata), the cold-hardy Mediterranean dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis) and the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera).
Lush planting over crossing pathways
The garden also features a collection of succulents, notably the spiky century plant (Agave americana), which has become a staple of drought-tolerant gardens, the felty elephant’s ear kalanchoe (Kalanchoe beharensis) and various aloes. The garden’s inventory is rounded out with plants grown for their fragrance, namely lavenders, mimosas (Acacia dealbata) and lemon-scented geraniums.
Since 2020, the villa and garden have been jointly recognised by prefectural decree as a Historic Monument. Today, the Renard family continue to protect their unique seaside garden, to enrich it, and to open it generously to an interested public. They also hope in the near future to produce an exhaustive list of the garden’s species with the help of a professional botanist.
View across the terraces towards the sea
This article could not have been written without the kind support of Elise Renard, who provided me with a fascinating tour of her family’s unique seaside garden.
Guided tours of the Villa Santa Lucia garden at 8 Montée de la Napoule (7th Arrondissement) are available in July and August, Sunday to Wednesday between 8am and 2pm. Tickets with cash only please. During the rest of the year tours for a minimum of 10 people are possible by appointment tel. 0622655205, email villasantalucia.mh@gmail.com.
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