Alpes-Maritimes

Born in Menton on January 20, 1877 in an old family of fishermen, François Borfiga was noticed very young by his keen intelligence which offered him vast horizons. Becoming breadwinner, he took up the trade of his ancestors. Later, he found a job of accountant in a house of trade. He kept his passion for the sea all his life. His second passion was his little country, which he expressed through numerous songs in Mentonese and then in French. In June 1940, he followed the tragic destiny of all the evacuated inhabitants of Menton. First he took refuge in the Eastern Pyrenees, then he came to the Var: it was there that he was struck by a relentless and almost family disease: blindness. It is his wife who collected under his dictation his last works. François Borfiga died in Menton on April 04, 1957. For all his compatriots, he remains "the félibre mentonnais". His works are regularly published in "Ou pais mentounasc", the magazine of the Society of Art and History of Menton.