Hôtel du Couvent

The story begins in 1604, when a community of Poor Clare nuns established a convent on the hillside above Nice's old town. The site later passed to the Visitation order and continued its religious and social life for centuries before eventually falling vacant in the 1980s. It was classified as a historic monument in 1989, but behind its walls the buildings gradually deteriorated.

Hotelier Valéry Grégo, founder of Perseus, first entered the abandoned convent in 2013. Rather than seeing an empty building awaiting reinvention, he became convinced that its four centuries of history should dictate what happened next. The restoration ultimately became a decade-long project involving Studio Mumbai, Festen Architecture and a network of architects, craftspeople and specialists.

Original floors were retained where possible, walls deliberately preserve their imperfections and the historic cloisters and vaulted spaces remain central to the building. Today, 88 rooms and suites sit alongside gardens, kitchens, baths and gathering spaces — allowing a place once built around communal life to fulfil a social purpose again.

Preservation at Hôtel du Couvent began with a remarkably simple principle: allow the building's age to remain visible. Historic floors, walls and architectural details were repaired rather than unnecessarily replaced, with Grégo repeatedly asking how each decision might help the convent survive for another 400 years.

That philosophy extends beyond the architecture. Produce is grown at the hotel's farm outside Nice, ancient grain varieties are sourced locally for its bakery, herbs and vegetables grow within the terraced gardens, and a monthly market gives local producers a place within the property.

Rather than preserving the convent as a monument to the past, the intention is to make it useful and culturally active again.