The area of Saint Francis in the Old town is small, but this place has always played an important role in the history of nice. Now place Saint-françois is on the threshold of great changes.

In the middle of the thirteenth century there appeared a Franciscan monastery. It was a time when the city that existed on the hill under the protection of the castle and began to descend down to where before there were only gardens, chapels and windmills. Two monastic orders came to town at the same time – the Dominicans and Franciscans. The Dominican order built a monastery to the South – in its place is now the area of the Palace of justice and the Franciscans settled in the North of the present Old nice. The Church, an indispensable cloister (closed monastery courtyard with arcades on the perimeter), the garden and the cemetery became the center of the block for a long time.

In the XVI century the city, finally went down, needed a new town hall (still on the Castle hill, which caused inconvenience). The city Council chose a place near the Franciscan monastery, and in 1580 was constructed simple, unadorned building. However, in the XVII and XVIII centuries it began to beautify and rebuild. Doors and stairs designed by architect Marc-Antoine Grigo, and over the facade worked Ignazio di Agliardi Tavigliano. The structure still looks quite modest for the town hall, but some interesting details, such as the grotesque face on the pediments of the second floor Windows on the side: one laughs, the other smirks.

In 1792 the troops of the First French Republic, which occupied nice, severely damaged the Palace and Franciscan monks were expelled. The monastery to the present day has not been preserved. From former greatness remained dilapidated town hall (now a labour exchange), arcade, bell tower of the Abbey Church (the yellow tower with blue clock is visible from afar, to come close to it is from the street Tour). And, of course, about the past resembles the name of the area.

The locals love the place Saint-françois and often visit is the fish market. Every day, except Monday, here from early morning selling fresh fish. The shelves are arranged around the fountain, depicting dolphins with entwined tails. Dolphins, cars and generally all sitting around a lot of gulls, black-waiting for handouts from the sellers.

But from an aesthetic point of view it is a lively and fun place, of course, loses the rest of the Old town. That is why the mayor of nice Christian Estrosi decided to give the square a second wind. Begin work on the restoration of the cloister and the Church, the restoration of the town hall Palace (it should open Museum of urban memory). All space lay out stone slabs, as is already done with squares Massena and Garibaldi, organize an exhibition hall and entertainment centre for the elderly. It is anticipated that the work will be completed in 2015.

Local residents worried about the main question, but reassured them – updated the fish market and the fountain of the dolphins will remain in place.