La Croisette

It is the Hollywood Boulevard français. Since 1946, the year of the first Festival de Cannes, the Croisette has welcomed the crème de la crème of the film industry. Brigitte Bardot, François Truffaut, Grace Kelly, Kirk Douglas, Jean Cocteau, Pablo, Picasso, Sophia Loren, Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain, Pedro Almodovar… the list is endless.originally, the Croisette is a marshy place that will remain as it is until the mid-nineteenth century, when the neighborhood began to be developed. It follows the route of an old road that ran from the vicinity of the current Festival Palace to the tip of Palm Beach. The origin of the name Croisette is born of a small cross, crouseto in Provencal.

In the past, there was at the end of this isolated cape, a small Christian cross. The confreres of the cannois peaceniks used to go there in procession. It was also from this place that the pilgrims embarked for the Saint Honorat island. Later on there was a military fort (now disappeared) at the site of this cross at the end of the cape. It was called the Fort of the Cross.

In the 1850s, the coastal road to the Croisette was bordered by a few fairly widely spaced properties. Palm trees were planted, a road was built, the seaside was improved, the railroad was built, a pier was built for the sea baths... This promenade of the Croisette becomes a place where walkers will cross each other;

Did you know…
While it has indeed been called the Croisette since the Middle Ages, the modern thoroughfare was first named Boulevard de l'Impératrice in 1866 in honor of Napoléon III's wife, Eugénie de Montijo. But the old name returned after the end of the Second Empire. In 1871, the boulevard took the name of Croisette, in relation to the historic neighborhood Croisette.