Rainier III Centenary: Peille names an avenue after the Prince

LL.AA.SS. le Prince Albert II et la Princesse Stéphanie de Monaco, Cyril Piazza, Maire de Peille ©Direction de la Communication – Frédéric Nebinger

On Saturday 25 November 2023, T.S.H. Prince Albert II and Princess Stephanie of Monaco visited the commune of Peille, to pay homage to Prince Rainier III as part of the commemorations of the centenary of his birth.

The Town Council of Peille unanimously voted on 7 August in favour of a proposal by the Mayor, Cyril Piazza, to name the road leading to Monte-Carlo Golf Club ‘Avenue Prince Rainier III’. Many well-known personalities from Monaco and Alpes-Maritimes were in attendance to witness the unveiling of the inaugural plaque, placed outside the Club entrance.

This new name is highly symbolic because in 1957, Prince Rainier III chose the commune as the location for his family’s second home. He was very attached to Peille, and donated an organ from the chapel of the Prince’s palace to the parish, now administered by the archdiocese of Monaco, although belonging to the diocese of Nice.

Relations between Monaco and Peille go back a very long time, as far as the twelfth century, when the Grimaldis had not yet established their sovereignty in Monaco, and when the Peille consuls had ceded their rights over the Rock to the commune of Genoa.

In 2019, to commemorate the strengthening of relations over the centuries, T.S.H. Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco unveiled the commune’s plaque as a member of the network of Historical Sites of the Grimaldis of Monaco. They were then formally awarded the distinction of honorary citizenship. The Mayor, Cyril Piazza, is the current President of the French national Association of Historical Sites of the Grimaldis.