Place Fontana

Formerly known as "Place du Petit Port", it occupies an area of about one thousand square meters along the quai de Monléon. The Fontana family was originally from Recco, on the Riviera du Levant, near Genoa. It appears in the public records of Menton in 1812, when the captain-marine Louis Fontana and his wife, Marie-Antoinette Carbone, settled there and made their home. His son and his wife, Julie Thieri, had in turn a son, Louis, François, Joseph, born on September 2, 1868. This one made a career in banking and agriculture: administrator-founded of powers at the Banque Populaire de Menton, administrator of the Caisse Régionale de Crédit Mutuel Agricole, founder and chairman of the board of directors of the cooperative production company of Menton, president of the regional agricultural and horticultural union of the canton of Menton, he was also administrator of the Casino Municipal de Menton and the SBM of the Principality of Monaco Reserve Lieutenant in the 111th Infantry Regiment, he took part in the 14/18 war. Municipal councilor in 1900, Louis Fontana was elected deputy mayor in 1904 in the municipality of Emile Biovès who succeeded him as mayor in 1905 when he was elected general councilor. He would remain until 1929, except for a break in 14/18, when, mobilized, he was replaced by Jules Molinari at the head of the municipality. He died in Menton on August 10, 1951. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor, an academy officer, and a knight of Agricultural Merit. The administration of Louis Fontana was criticized, but we owe him two important improvements in the image of our city: first, the coverage of the Carei from Partouneaux Street to the railway bridge with the creation of a new garden (the first phase had been carried out by his predecessor Emile Biovès), and the creation of the sewer system of the city.