SUDNLY - Rose, c'est la vie. Edition du 11/10/25
THE BEAUTIFUL STORY OF THE WEEK
Monoïkos 1297. Heritage in progress
Since the Palaeolithic era and its caves, Monaco's history has been steeped in legend. And when the legend is more beautiful than reality, it must be printed, as John Ford taught us. Or else, it must be turned into an object that we will love to keep, collect, give and cherish, as Leticia de Massy and Charlotte de Pariente are doing with their young luxury brand Monoïkos 1297.
But first, let's return to the legends of Monaco. The first, mythological legend has it that during his famous labours, Hercules spent some time secluded on a rock overlooking the Mediterranean. He was still called Heracles, in keeping with Hellenistic chronology, and his stopover became a Greek colony with the arrival of the Phocaeans from Marseille in the 7th century BC, under the name of Monoïkos (from the Greek monoecus, ‘he who lives alone’). This legend was brought back to light during the French Revolution when the Principality, annexed by France in 1793 (and until 1814), briefly became a commune renamed Fort d'Hercule. Another of these founding legends, undoubtedly the most famous, is linked to the mischievous figure of François Grimaldi. A Guelph expelled from Genoa, his audacity enabled his cousin Rainier to seize the fortress of Monaco by sneaking in with one of his companions, disguised in the robes of Franciscan monks. Monaco meaning monk in Italian, this disturbing coincidence only serves to amplify the legend. The year was 1297. Dévote was born in Corsica on the 283rd day of the year. A devout Christian, she was arrested and tortured on the orders of the sadly named Gabinius Barbarus Pompeianus, governor of Sardinia-Corsica during the reign of Diocletian. The deceased's remains were loaded onto a boat bound for Africa, but a storm diverted it and sent it crashing onto the shore of what would later become La Condamine in Monaco. According to another legend, thieves attempted to steal the relics of the canonised martyr aboard a boat, which was caught and burned. Every evening on 26 January, to celebrate Saint Devota, patron saint of Monaco (and Corsica), a boat is burned on the steps of the church of the same name, and it is customary to remove a nail from the ashes, which is said to bring good luck..
