Villa La Fleur du Cap – Lo Scoglietto

Villa La Fleur du Cap – pink or pink?

Villa La Fleur du Cap is known today for its distinctive pink facade, but it didn’t always look like this. The color became particularly iconic when the villa was used as a film location for Edward Blake’s Curse of the Pink Panther in 1983.

At the time, the villa was owned by famous British actor David Niven, who himself starred in the movie – his last role before he died that year.

From L’Isoletta to Lo Scoglietto

The villa’s history dates back to 1880, when it was built for Eustache Albert Bounin, an olive merchant from Nice. He gave the property the name L’Isoletta, “The Little Island” in Italian. After his death in 1884, his son Paul Bounin took over the villa, built an extra floor and renamed it Lo Scoglietto, “The Little Rock”.

A popular film location and celebrity guests

As early as 1917, the villa was used for the filming of L’esclave de Phidias (“The Slaves of Phidias”) and since then, both the house and the 3,000 m² plot have been the setting for several productions. The villa was then passed on to Paul’s son, Jacques Bounin (1908-1977), a well-known politician and resistance fighter. During his time, the property was regularly rented out to prominent guests such as the Duchess of Marlborough, King Leopold III of Belgium and Charlie Chaplin.

Villa David Niven

In 1962, the villa was sold to David Niven and his Swedish wife, supermodel Hjördis Paulina Genberg Tersmeden. In the 1980s, the place began to be known as “Villa David Niven”.

Niven was a close friend of the Grimaldi family in Monaco, and Grace Kelly, among others, visited the villa and played pétanque on the small court in the garden.