One of the more challenging aspects of moving to France for my wife was losing her garden. In Nashville, where we lived for almost twenty years, we had an acre of property with lots of room for her to plant multiple gardens. Here in Vence, we live in an apartment …

Located on the gorgeous Cap Ferrat peninsula, overlooking the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer and Beaulieu-sur-Mer, is an Italian-style villa built during France’s Belle Époque by Baroness Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild. The mansion, with its nine exquisite gardens, was bequeathed in 1934 to the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France. …

Images from La Belle Èpoque (1871-1914) on the French Riviera generate the impression of a whimsical golden era brimming with pleasurable pursuits and indulgences. It was a time of pure fantasy; the stuff little girls might dream of — castles, palatial homes, ball gowns and glass slippers. For Madame Ephrussi, …