Why go
Read this before walking Rue Longue and climbing toward the Vieux-Château cemetery. The Roman road, the former castle site and the frontier with Italy connect places that otherwise look like separate chapters of Menton’s past. The climb also makes the old town’s defensive position easier to grasp.
The full story
People occupied the Menton area in prehistoric times; nearby finds include early modern human and Neanderthal remains. The Roman Via Julia Augusta later crossed the site along what became Rue Longue. In the 11th century, the Count of Ventimiglia built a stronghold on Pépin hill. A new castle by the Roman route in the 13th century drew the growing town toward today’s Vieux-Château cemetery. Menton passed from Genoese influence to the Grimaldis of Monaco in 1346. The French Revolution briefly brought it under France, but it returned to Monaco after Napoleon. In 1848, Menton and Roquebrune broke away, in part amid a dispute over taxes on lemon exports. They spent the next decade under Sardinian protection and administration. France annexed the County of Nice in 1860; Monaco formally renounced its rights to Menton in 1861. This shifting border explains why Italian, Monégasque and French histories all meet in one small town.