Every day at midday a cannon explodes in Nice. It always takes visitors by surprise especially those who are close by on the castle hill or parts of the old town. You can easily spot the locals, however, as they don’t bat an eyelid.
As for the reason for this, you may be forgiven for imagining it has military origins, celebrating a victory or warning of attack but no, it’s much more quirky than that.
Back in 1861 a British gentleman named Sir Thomas Coventry-More settled in the old town of Nice. He had a wife who enjoyed her morning strolls along the Promenade des Anglais and had a tendency to get back late to prepare lunch.
Sir Thomas was having none of this tardiness so he found a rather ingenious way to summon her back – a cannon blast.
Having had his plan approved by the Mayor he provided the cannon at his own expense and installed it on the lower terrace of the château.
Every day just before midday Sir Thomas would raise a colourful globe on a mast from his home which would be the sign for a municipal employee to set off the cannon.
I assume his wandering wife then rushed back home to get lunch ready pretty damn quick!
When the Coventry-Mores left Nice the locals missed the daily detonation and on 19 November 1876 a law “lou canoun de Miejour” was passed making the blast official thereby keeping up this peculiarly niçois tradition to this day.
Nowadays it’s no longer a cannon but surprisingly it’s not automated either. Every day a large firework is manually set off in the same place as the original cannon and has been lit by the same man, Philippe Arnello, since 1992.
During this time he has only missed it once due to a traffic jam but he has been known to set it off an hour early on April Fool’s Day! Since the dreadful terrorist attack in 2016 the cannon no longer sounds on the 14th July out of respect for the victims who lost their lives.
Do you see the little cloud in the photo below? That’s the smoke from the firework.
Have you heard the Nice cannon, or do you know of any similar quirky traditions?
Related Reading:
What is Bastille Day? La Fête Nat
Here’s a PIN for later!
I remember hearing that when I visited and now I’m glad I know the story behind it 🙂
#citytripping
So interesting to hear the story behind the tradition. It does show times have (thankfully) changed. A cannon blast certainly wouldn’t inspire me to get home and cook lunch. #citytripping
I absolutely love this story – and the fact that there’s still one man whose job it is. I can’t quite imagine rushing home to arrange my husband’s lunch if he started firing cannons though, rather the opposite! Thanks for linking up with #citytripping
Love it Phoebe! Where would we be without these quirky traditions. Looking forward to hearing that cannon someday soon
Brilliant!! If my husband did that I’d be very tempted to just sit about to annoy him 😀
oh, yes, I’ve heard it in Nice:) #citytripping
My wife and I were visiting the botanic gardens in Nice a couple of years ago, and were very close to this noon-time blast. Unfortunately we were a split-second too slow to realise that the garden workers probably had a good reason to drop their tools and cover their ears as the clocks started chiming.
You’re so funny Richard! 😮
I’ve ordered a cannon from Amazon – just to see how my wife reacts.
Brilliant story, who needs a bell when you can have a cannon!
I had absolutely no idea so thanks for sharing! It’s a great story and goes to show how long the Brits have been living in the region, and how much influence they have had too! Vive les anglais et “lou canoun de Miejour”!!
Imagin calling your wife home by cannon blast in2013. We women have come a long way since then