A short train ride from Nice brings you to Bordighera on the Italian side of the Riviera. Carolyn Reynierpractises her Italian and finds some bellissima properties
ITALY:ALTHOUGH MY Ligurian great-grandfather came from Costarainera (our surname before grandfather Frenchified it was Raineri), I don't speak Italian. I am however learning it.
Yesterday, I took the train from Nice to Ventimiglia, then the bus along the coast to Bordighera to find out what's on the market.
Most estate agents speak English but I wanted to practise my Italian. I speak fluent French so when I don't know a word, I use the French one, stick an "o" on the end and add a couple of "zz's" in the middle.
Italians nod, wisely; say capisco, capisco a lot, giving the impression they have understood. However, I would like to make it clear that in what follows neither I nor this newspaper can be held responsible for anything that may have been lost in translation.
Between Ospedaletti, to the east, and Bordighera, Simone Ramoino at Casamare is selling a third floor (there's a lift) 100sq m (1,076sq ft) two-bedroom apartment 200m from the sea. There are panoramic views over the bay from the large, sunny 40sq m (431sq ft) terrace; you also get a private parking space thrown in for your €540,000.
Just the other side of Bordighera at Vallecrosia, he has another terrace with sea view attached to a 75sq m (807sq ft) three-room apartment in a piccola palazzina.
You have to walk another 600m to the sea but there's a pool and a garage parking. The price is €350,000.
Ramoino, who describes the market as stazionale (not dissimilar to trains at Ventimiglia), says English, Dutch and American clients - and some Irish ones - are buying second homes. They want sea views and terraces, he says, and prefer quiet locations rather than the town centre.
A couple of kilometres from the sea, you can buy a half share (I think) in what sounds a splendid Bordighera villa. It is laid out over three levels with direct access to the pool from the ground floor. There is a studio, two bedrooms, two terraces and a mozzafiato - breathtaking - sea view. At €1.3 million, the price may also take your breath away. Ramoino also has a similarly priced splendidly-located 120sq m (1,292sq ft) apartment right on the water with three bedrooms, terrace, communal garden and private beach. It is either on the fifth floor or has five pianos.
In an apartment building with pool in Ospedaletti, Fabia Devia at Agenzia Domus is marketing a vista mare panoramica which comes with both a large terrace and camera matrimoniale; I'm unclear whether you can still buy this one-bedroom property (€350,000) if you're not married to your partner.
Agenzia Saletta Oliva has a couple of one-bedroom apartments on the market here, both with fine sea views. The first, in a residential complex with a small private pool, has a grandissimo terrace; the other, on two levels, is at Rocce del Capo - for sale for €300,000 and €280,000 respectively.
Cousin Lina, who'd be 105 if still alive, told me my grandfather's best friend was the splendidly named Gandolfo. When my brother, Michael John, and I first visited the cemetery at Costarainera looking for relatives, you couldn't move - neither, indeed, could they - for Raineris and Gandolfos.
One of the latter is selling a second and top floor two-bed apartment - two balconies, overlooking the port, stupenda vista mare - for €500,000. The same agency also has a completely renovated circa 100sq m (1,076sq ft), five-and-a-half-room apartment at the beginning of the Via dei Colli, close to the delightful old town, with similar views and a 38sq m (409sq ft) garden. This is on at €430,000 trattabili (negotiable) - a word to remember in these quiet property market times.
By car from Nice Côte d'Azur airport, take the motorway, set off along the Basse, Moyenne or Grande Corniche, or do a bit of both. Marie-Thérèse and I drove from Nice along the Moyenne last May to go to the excellent seafront market at Bordighera.
It was the Thursday before the Monaco Grand Prix. We drove through the principality, saw not a car but the noise of Formula I engines and the smell of burning rubber was unforgettable.
There's a train from Nice Ville to Bordighera - it is the Milan train and it is always late - or you can catch the much more frequent trains to Ventimiglia and take the bus the few kilometres along the Riviera dei Fiori.
Back at Ventimiglia, the station announcer told us repeatedly that the next train to Nizza, due to arrive at platform one from Milano Centrale, was running five minutes late (no change there). Then he told us it was running 15 minutes late and would be arriving at platform three.
A chap started up a long conversation with me about what a nightmare this station always was. C'é un casino, he said, which I now see from my dictionary is the equivalent to the French bordel, not in its literal sense, but meaning confusion.
The train trundled into the station bang on time causing casino all round. We got on. It was an Italian train with individual compartments. Why are we waiting? I asked the man sitting opposite. Change of staff? he proffered. Twenty minutes later, we started moving. My travelling companion, from Turin, had a business appointment the following day in Nice; like so many Italians, he owned an apartment on the French Riviera - his was at Cagnes-sur-Mer.
I told him how much I'd enjoyed an afternoon at the races at the hippodrome there. He said I spoke good Italian and that I looked very elegant in my hat. At least I think that's what he said.
www.casamare.net
www.a'genzia-domus.it
www.agenziasaletta.it
Gandolfo +39 0184 26 01 43
