Rue Acquassoma

It is a "place name". But an old legend attributing the creation of Menton to three Forbans skimming the Mediterranean: Acquasoma, Lampeduza, and Capodana remains anchored in the minds without any historical evidence. In reality, this alley, partly vaulted, takes its name from an old trough that was there and which went to drink the beasts of burden (in Menton, a donkey is "sauma"). It is through this street that the peasants going up from the sea to the hills passed with their animals. There is another "Aiga sauma" in Menton: it is a small spring rising from the plateau St Michel and ending at the traffic circle St Roch. It would take its name from the fact that, due to the proximity of the sea, the water was sometimes brackish. This spring was still open at the beginning of Partouneaux street, a good half-century ago. A beautiful story is also attached to this street: before the Revolution, under the porch, there was a statue of the Virgin particularly venerated by the people of Mentonnais, "La petite Madone de la rue". A "fan" of Robespierre found it necessary to wall up the niche, and the Virgin was imprisoned. And when, a few years later, the niche was reopened, the statue had disappeared. It is said that all the children of this fiery revolutionary were born blind.