Alexandra Rinaldi, who owns Les 5 Saveurs à Monaco on rue Basse, is no stranger to the Monaco business scene. The Monegasque took over her parents’ business, Rinaldi Ship Chandler, which opened in 1970 on Quai Antoine, and before that, in 2010, she ran Les Trésors de la Mer, a clothing and decoration shop on rue de Millo in La Condamine.
Having sold both businesses, she had the opportunity to open a boutique in Monaco Ville that could cater to both Monaco residents and tourists. “The community on the Rock is elderly but we have people who know our history and share their stories in the streets.”
In March 2019, Alexandra opened Les 5 Saveurs à Monaco with her dog Bella at her side, selling scents of Provence, food and cosmetics. But things were a bit tight. “I ended up having to add some souvenirs to make ends meet. Tourists love anything that says Monaco,” she says.
The first year for any business is never easy, but then Covid hit. Streets typically filled with the bustle of tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of the Prince were at a standstill. Shops and restaurants, some having to pay out €6,000 a month in rent, faced extinction. As one elderly Monegasque women summed it up: “Monaco Ville est mort.”
“It was very difficult. I closed on March 14 but had the right to deliver food — tapenade, artichokes, olive oil, jams, herbs de Provence — which wasn’t a huge amount but it helped to pay the rent.”
Alexandra, who has lived most of her life between La Condamine and Fontvieille, reopened post-confinement on May 4. “I was so surprised to see clients from Monaco come that first week to support us. They didn’t spend large amounts but it helped. But by July and August, locals stayed away from le Rocher as tourists slowly came back. From August, it became mandatory to wear a mask in all les ruelles of Monaco Ville. “You didn’t have to wear masks in other parts of Monaco so locals stopped coming altogether.”
Once again, Alexandra reverted to small deliveries to loyal clients. Then the French confinement Version 2.0 began on October 30, 2020.
Cleverly, she had started to develop her business by selling Italian sweaters and vests—for €29 to €35—from a supplier she has worked with for 15 years. “I tried to find something that you can’t find elsewhere in Monaco so to not be in competition with other businesses here and although it’s not same turnover, it helps. I am going to expand with clothes and handbags that will appeal to passers-by and people from cruise ships.” (In 2019, there were 182,436 cruise passengers in Monaco. From March 11, 2020 until 2021 cruise ships were banned from stopovers in the Principality).
Alexandra is forthcoming. She admits she doesn’t have the means to buy items in advance and can only sell clothing because it is on consignment.
“As commerce, we are stuck. We can’t buy stock in advance that we don’t know if we are going to sell. This is a huge problem for businesses in Monaco but especially in Monaco Ville with souvenir shops.”
Alexandra has resorted to putting her boutique up for sale — “I am a relatively optimistic person in life but it has become a hard battle” — but is continuing with business as usual.
Her line of Panier des Sens — natural cosmetics and scents of Provence hand creams, soaps and fragrances all made in Marseilles — is her top seller, for both clients in Monaco and tourists. “The products I love sell well.” The Colline de Provence products also a hit.
There is a scent for every budget here. And for Christmas, Alexandra will make up gift boxes from €10 to €150.
Open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm or anytime by appointment on 06 40 61 80 28.
“In Mauritius, people are kind, maybe too much so, and naïve,” Sylvia Sermenghi says on her native island nation in the Indian Ocean. “So I learned to be tough.”
Sylvia moved to Monaco in 1980 and admits that it was “not easy to make your mark”. In the reign of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, “Monaco was a different scene but maybe the whole world was different then.”
At age 20, Sylvia worked at the hotel Loews Monte Carlo (the Fairmont Monte Carlo today). After the birth of her son, she decided to be a stay-at-home mom until he started school and it was during that period she worked in fashion, first as a model in Paris, and after on the business side. She set up her own company, Gloria Prod and organised event launches in Monaco – the Dresdner Bank inauguration with Prince Albert and the opening of Zelo’s nightclub (now Twiga) – and in France, like the fundraising Par Coeur Gala hosted by French NBA basketball player, Tony Parker.
In 2012, Sylvia created her fashion label, Legends Monaco. “Two years later we were in the Haute Couture Week calendar, putting on fashion shows twice a year in Paris alongside Dior, and Chanel.” Today the brand offers tailor-made clothes to a private clientele.
Yet for as long as she can remember, animals have played the biggest role in her life. One reason, she says, is because growing up on an island you are “very close to nature and its creatures”. As Sylvia describes, “I was a wild child, climbing trees to pick fruit and bringing home abandoned dogs on the way home from school. We had a farm behind our house with all kinds of animals.”
Another big factor though was her father. “His passion for animals became mine when he died at a very young age.” Over the years, Sylvia has channelled this passion into benevolence. “As an adult, my first dog was an abandoned Dachshund I brought back from Corsica. During the ferry crossing back to Nice, I was so worried he would be frightened that I slept – if you can call it that! – with him in the hold all night.”
For Sylvia, a dog, or a cat, is our friend, our guardian and also our children. “They can’t speak our language, but they know very well to speak to our heart. I have always thought that animals bring out the best in us, the part of our original deep nature which is made up of the good and not so good. For me, it is very simple: I can talk with them, and I can feel instantly when they have a problem. This, I think, is love.”
Sylvia, who volunteers with the not-for-profit Jeune J’Écoute Monaco to help with PR, says the Monaco community love their dogs and that the mentality has become more open towards adopting abandoned dogs.
She created Rokethon Monaco., an association calling for responsible animal ownership and to raise awareness about dog abandonment. Rokethon – the name stems from the Creole word roqué, rock, as the Patron Saint of the dogs is St Roch – is a walk/run that will take place for dogs and their humans on October 5th, 10am, at the Chapiteau de Fontvieille.
Registration (by donation) is at the entry and only one dog per person can sign up. Fifty percent of registrant donations will go to the Société Protectrice des Animaux (SPA) in Monaco and the other half to associations supporting animal causes.
“When I adopted my three dogs, Roquette, Sunshine and Tough, from Ukraine last year they came from bombs of the war and minus 40 degrees in winter to join my six adopted dogs, my horses and my goats. I decided I could do better, for all families, young and old, with their doggies on a leash. They can come run or walk but let’s all get together for the animal cause – adopt don’t shop!”
There will also be a “Village Rokethon” with entertainment for young and less young with pets, animal art, dog communicators, agility therapists, and a Brigitte Bardot fashion show with abandoned dogs to adopt.
“In France, the Assembly National reports 12 domestic animals are abandoned every hour. In my opinion, and what should be everyone’s opinion, this is way too much and this is why I’m hoping many people will come out to support this cause and, why not, adopt one of our little hearts looking for home and family.”
For more information about Rokethon, see the website or email Sylvia Sermenghi .
Article first published September 13, 2024. Feature photos: Lacey Da Costa.
Salon du livre de Monaco co-founders Raphaël Abenhaim and Yvette Cellario.
This year’s Monaco International Book Fair at the Grimaldi Forum brings together 140 authors from 12 countries across the globe. The 13th edition – which is free to the public – kicked off Saturday September 7 with opera, and acknowledgements from Yvette Cellario, a Monegasque who co-founded the event with businessman Raphaël Abenhaim.
The pair first launched the online bookshop, Librairie numérique de Monaco, back in 2011. Following its success, they decided to expand their literary activities and went on to create the Salon du livre de Monaco in 2012.
The objective was to promote all facets of literature. Yvette, who worked for twenty years in the Monaco Town Hall events department, published her first novel “Et Moi, Émois” in 2004. This was followed by an autobiography and several other titles.
Raphaël Abenhaim and the Librairie numérique de Monaco team are on hand this weekend to speak with book lovers about what the online bookshop has to offer.
Volunteer Heidi De Love gives the lowdown on the 10% discount promo on all books throughout September. WATCH VIDEO BELOW: ENGLISH
For the first time in Monaco, members of the Rencontres des Auteurs Francophones are taking part in the book weekend. Founded in 2020 by author Sandrine Mehrez Kukurudz, the New York-based platform is the world’s first French-language literary network set up to promote French-language culture. WATCH VIDEO ABOVE IN ENGLISH: SANDRINE AND RON KUKURUDZ.
One of the Rencontres entourage includes LA-based Dana Ziyashiva. WATCH VIDEO IN ENGLISH.
Another first-time participant is Swiss-based writer Laurence Berger, with a fictional thriller linked to Monaco published in both French and English. WATCH VIDEO BELOW IN ENGLISH WITH LAURENCE BERGER AND LAURENCE GENEVET.
The Monaco International Book Fair runs from 10am to 6pm Saturday, September 7, and Sunday, September 8.
Writers from the Rencontres des Auteurs Francophones.French author Lucien Nasarre.Lawyer by day, writer the rest of the time, Laurence Berger.Heidi De Love volunteering with the fantastic Librairie numérique de Monaco.Well-known personality Laurence Genevet with her first book.Dana Ziyashiva from LA.The 13th edition of the Monaco International Book Fair.
Article first published September 7, 2024.All photos and videos copyright Good News Monaco.
The first ten days of motherhood for Johanna Damar Flores were not what she imagined. “While breastfeeding my 10-day-old son, I discovered a huge ball on his neck. I was alone and at home. At first, I was quite anxious. I didn’mut know what it was or who to contact.”
Thanks to Johanna’s network in Monaco, her son was quickly diagnosed and, after a year of reeducation, his neck completely healed. “During this unexpected experience, I realised that when we become parents – and not only for the first time – we all feel isolated and uninformed.”
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: Anna Campbell and Clémence Perrin give the scoop on Entreparents and their Global Day of Parents huge all-day party at Larvotto.
With her mum friends Emilie Sabatié and Swiss-born Clémence Perrin, Johanna put out an online survey and the answers showed that new parents can struggle to find the information they need from one central source. “We were never meant to raise children alone,” says Emilie, who, like Johanna, was born in France and grew up in Monaco. “It takes a village, and when you don’t have the psychological and physical support of others life is more challenging.”
This was the start of the Entreparents network and their mission “to help at least one family,” says Johanna.
Entreparents cofounders Emilie Sabatié, Johanna Damar Anna Campbell and Clémence Perrin.
Brit Anna Campbell, who has lived in Monaco for 12 years, joined the French-speaking trio and Entreparents became an official Monaco association in May 2021. Their goal? To put parenthood back into the heart of the community. They have almost 2,000 authentic followers on Instagram.
“The whole journey is a new challenge, something you haven’t experienced before and is unique for everyone,” says Clémence. “You realise at each stage that things in your life will change – your body, your moods, thoughts, relationships – but you don’t know to what extent until you’re living it. And the not knowing is stressful, so the care and support of those who do know is invaluable.”
Emilie adds, “We really believe that Monaco is an exceptional environment and offers many great services to parents. With Entreparents, we always want to value the existing services – like the Espaces Parents at the mairie managed by Maryline Soldano and the ateliers of the CHPG Maternity – and connect parents to them.”
The association is not only for parents and future parents in Monaco and the surrounding area, but also for family members, childcare providers, professionals and institutions within the family-child environment. And it’s not just for mothers either. “Our aim to include dads and their role in raising a baby,” shares Johanna. “It’s same for them when it comes to isolation and lack of information, and having the opportunity to meet people at the same life stage.
Anna, a mum of three who has lived in Monaco for twelve years has limited French. “There are added difficulties if you’re an expat, don’t speak French and you’re potentially living in a new place without knowing many people or where to get the information you need, like finding a doctor or baby formula. When you don’t have family nearby you really rely on the community and support of others in your situation or others who can offer guidance, they become your family, your tribe, your village.”
Entreparents is the needle threading together Monaco’s community and services. Johanna describes, “In collaboration with Radio Monaco, we have launched their first on-air series dedicated to parenting called Come, Let’s Chat. Once a month on the Feel Good Morning Show with Giulia Testaverde, you will find our experts and parents of our network chatting about all things parenthood. We also have an agreement with the CHPG Maternity Department to be part of their multi-disciplinary team working together to develop the available services.”
It was Anna who had the idea of a free and easy-to-use app, as she knew someone who started a similar concept in the UK. “Facebook groups are very useful but can be difficult to find the information you’re looking for scrolling through previous questions and answers,” Anna explains. “The app has instant chat and dedicated group chats to help find information more easily. Our aim is to help make the pathway into parenthood more supported and serene.”
Anna Campbell, Johanna Damar and Clémence Perrin at the Maison des Associations.
The Entreparents app in English and French was launched in fall 2023 and has more than 880 users, mostly French-speaking parents in Monaco. Johanna, Anna, Clémence and Emilie are hoping more English-speaking mums and dads will download it.
The app is a super resourceful tool with a 24/7 chat feature. Users’ questions range from helping babies sleep and toddler behaviour to doctor contact information and where to buy certain products. The dedicated chat groups deal with topics including post-partum, childcare, nutrition and infertility. The chat is mediated by Agnès Guénin, a psychomotor therapist specialising in perinatal care and parenting support.
There’s also an information feature to guide new and future parents each step of the way with helpful general information and hospital appointment reminders, from pre-pregnancy through the child’s first three years.
The app’s calendar informs parents of local events for families to enjoy together. “Our most recent event was Let’s Meet Infertility: an invisible pain,” says Anna. “It was a big gathering of local experts with mums sharing their infertility journey. It helped to show the network that is available to anyone struggling and to create a conversation and support in the community.”
Their next event is Global Day of Parents on Saturday June 1, at Neptune Monaco Beach (reservations a must by email). The family-friend celebration starts with breakfast from 9:30 am. There will be a kids’ corner, activities, a bouncy castle (till 11:30 am offered by My Sweet Birthday) and mini massage sessions for little ones in partnership with the Maman Bulle, and a massage area for parents.
With the help of Kids & Co Monaco, the beach restaurant will become dedicated to families, equipped with changing table, high-chairs, stroller parking, placemat colouring, children’s menu, and a festive lunch (paid per family), bubble machines and a baby-friendly photo booth. A DJ will play until 5 pm. The event will also launch “The Monaco Parenthood Support Committee” to give parents of the local community “an opportunity to have their voices heard”.
This will be the last in-person event before summer but the Entreparents team is already working on “Let’s Meet Halloween”. “This is our next biggest meet up with approximately 900 people usually joining us for trick or treat fun at Larvotto,” says Clémence.
As mums and wives in their late thirties and early forties, Johanna, Anna, Clémence and Emilie say their involvement depends first and foremost on availability outside family and work commitments. “We trust and respect each other enormously, and completely understand the daily challenges we each face as mothers and women,” says Anna. “We are carrying out this project together by sharing the same values and, above all, sharing the love for our children which is our real motivation.”
As Johanna puts it, “We’ve started a long-term movement to lay the foundations in our community for the years ahead, and for children like my daughter.”
Bon App!
The Entreparents app has financial support from Monaco Telecom, the Monaco government and the Monaco-registered Cuomo Foundation, which was set up in 2001 by Alfredo and Maria Elena Cuomo.
The Italian couple had one simple vision: to help vulnerable children in India with access to education and a chance at a better life. Other initiatives expanded in Europe and gradually to other regions of the world. After Alfredo’s passing in 2009, Maria challenged herself and the Foundation to evolve and broaden its goals, achievements and partnerships. Today, the Foundation remains active globally in the fields of education, social assistance, environmental research and culture.
Article first published May 30, 2024. Video and feature photo copyright Good News Monaco.
During his travels and life as an expat in Europe, the Reverend Fergus Butler Gallie stumbled across story after story of the most incredibly heroic clergy. This promoted him to write Priests de la Résistance (2019),a book that TheGuardian calls: “A stirring compendium of the lives of clergy who stood up to Hitler.”
“I realised that, with a couple of exceptions, their stories were totally unknown in the UK, indeed some of them had no record of their deeds written in English. So what began as an attempt to remedy that, became a wider project as I discovered more and more examples,” says the current Vicar of Charlbury with Shorthampton in the diocese of Oxford.
Oxford and Cambridge-educated Fergus has served in churches in Liverpool and Central London, plus in chaplaincy at a school in Kent. And although only 31, the author has penned several articles for major media and written two other books – A Field Guide to the English Clergy: A Compendium of Diverse Eccentrics, Pirates, Prelates and Adventurers; All Anglican, Some Even Practising (2018) and his memoir, Touching Cloth: Confessions and communions of a young priest(2023).
Father Fergus will be giving a talk about the clerical resistance in World War II “and some lighter tales” on Friday, July 12, at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Monaco. He was invited by long-time friend Reverend Hugh Bearn, who says, “Father Fergus is a highly entertaining, witty, a skilled raconteur and a serious historian – a young man who embodies the notion of a traditional priest in the Church of England.”
Do you think history is repeating itself 80 years after the liberation of Europe from totalitarianism?
FBG: Well, I suppose so, but I think we ought to remember that much of Eastern and Central Europe experienced totalitarianism until 40 or so years ago, and Spain 55 years ago: history always repeats itself I think and the sad historical reality is that totalitarianism has actually been the norm, the question is how does one resist it?
History seems split on the view of Pope Pius XII. Some historians view him as ‘Hitler’s Pope’ but recently released historical documents show him as more of a shrewd politician who was able to safeguard the Catholic Church while also providing asylum for some Jewish people when he could. In light of your research, where do you fall on Pope Pius XII?
FBG: Gosh it’s very tricky. I think the real answer is that it’s complicated. I think either viewing him as entirely complicit with Hitler or as a hero are both inaccurate oversimplifications. What I would say is that almost all the leaders of Europe were on tightropes at the time. During the war itself I think the fact that clergy make up by far the largest section of the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ and the horrific numbers of them killed in concentration camps, etc, speaks for itself in terms of the fact that the Church of which
Pius was head was perhaps the single most important organisation that resisted Nazism. However, I think what is perhaps more damning are his actions towards the end and just after the war where he appears to support clergy who were complicit in war crimes – in particular in Croatia – and allows, knowingly or not, the Vatican to be used as an escape route for those who should have faced justice. The truth is he was a conflicted, complicated character- probably too weak in terms of personality to ever become some sort of Catholic Churchill –but still trying to do his best and sometimes succeeding.
In your research, were any of the priests or nuns excommunicated by the church for helping those of the Jewish faith? If not, doesn’t that say something about the Catholic Church’s sympathies during the war?
FBG: No, clergy were never excommunicated for that and, as I say above, I think there’s is a strong argument to say that the Catholic Church in particular plays the most important resistance role of all in Europe during the Second World War. But I suppose it’s worth realising, as I say in the book, that the Church is about as diverse and widespread an institution as you can find by its very nature. There were plenty of clergy who collaborated very willingly alongside the heroes who resisted. The Church’s main issue is that it’s filled with humans who are, by its own teaching, fallible and sinful even when trying to do good.
If there is a worst-case scenario in Europe today and totalitarianism does spread, could you see members of today’s European clergy (Catholic or Protestant) making the same sacrifices?
FBG: I would hope so. I think the Church invariably comes into its own as a place where hope can spread when the political situation seems hopeless. I suppose the Church is less powerful than it was then but the fundamental truth that it proclaims – that we owe primary allegiance to God Almighty – has not gone away and one would hope it would inspire now as it did then.
When the war ended, were most of the priests and nuns that you wrote about celebrated as heroes or did they simply return to a quiet life within the Church?
FBG: Well, it varied. The wonderful Canon Felix Kir became a real celebrity – Mayor of Dijon for another two decades and, of course, having the blanc de cassis named after him because he drank so much of it. Others went on to run charities or parishes or religious orders, but the reality is that over half of those I wrote about didn’t survive the war at all. They were perhaps the greatest heroes.
To confirm attendance for the July 12 talk by Fergus Butler Gallie, contact hughbearn@gmail.com. A €10 entry fee at the door on July 12 will be donated to charity, and refreshments will follow at St Paul’s House.
Chaplain Hugh adds, “Father Fergus will be preaching at St Paul’s at 10:30 am on July 14 – the seventh Sunday after Trinity which is also Bastille Day – how apposite.”
In the early hours of June 28, 1969, nine New York City police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village. A search warrant in hand authorised them to investigate the illegal sale of alcohol, and – in accordance with a New York criminal statute –arrest people who were not wearing at least three articles of gender-appropriate clothing.
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: Annette Anderson delivers spectacular speech at MonacoPride 2024.
Activist and photographer Mark Segal, 18 at the time, was at the LGBTQ+ hang out that day. He recently described the event to Katie Couric Media, saying it was “an ordinary night” dancing at the Stonewall Inn when the police “poured in, threatening and beating patrons … but instead of complying like they normally did when these altercations occurred, the crowd decided to fight back.”
He described, ‘“It was the most horrific, frightening scene I had ever been part of. My first reaction in my head was, ‘Oh gee, we better call the police’ – and then I realised these are the police. Realising that we gay people can be treated like this was probably one of the most depressing times in my life. [It felt like] no one cared about us, not even the police.”
The police barricaded themselves inside and called for backup as some 400 people rioted and set fire to the bar. The flames were extinguished in time but the riots continued for six days. This incident became known as the Stonewall Uprising, the tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the US.
In 1970, a year after the Stonewall Inn raid, activists commemorated the anniversary with what was the first gay pride march. Today, the Stonewall Uprising continues to be honoured worldwide with Pride Month in June.
In Monaco, across Pride Month, the Barclays Private Bank building lights up in the colours of the rainbow. It was Barclays Monaco who, in 2022, collaborated with Fight Aids Monaco and Stars’n’Bars to create MonacoPride, to provide an opportunity to educate Monaco decision makers about LGBTQI+ rights and to change the outdated laws that create serious hardships for many families of people working and living in Monaco.
Speakers Monserrat Marchchetti (Barclays Private Bank Monaco), Hervé Aeschbach, (Fight Aids Monaco) Annette Anderson (former manager of Stars’n’Bars) with Camille Gottlieb (representing her mother Princess Stephanie), Christophe Glasser (Fight Aids Monaco), Lorenzo Turco (Barclays Private Bank Monaco) and (Marina Ceyssac (High Commissioner for Protection of Rights).
Every year since, on June 20, MonacoPride brings together residents and workers to celebrate the LGBTQI+ community. The annual cocktail continues to grow larger, more dynamic, and this third edition invited an unprecedented 150 guests to the new port restaurant, Marius.
It’s a party with a purpose, a reflection on the year’s achievements – like the welcome creation of the new Mon’Arc En Ciel Association – but also to focus on the road ahead as Monaco is consistently rated among the worst counties in Europe in terms of LGBTQI+ civil rights.
Hervé Aeschbach, director of Fight Aids Monaco(WATCH VIDEO BELOW), pointed out how there are no spousal rights for widows or widowers of a spouse in a same-sex couple legally married in other countries and same sex families who are denied medical benefits for their children.
In a riveting speech, Annette Anderson thanked the “many courageous members of the Conseil National as well as the [Marina Ceyssac] High Commissioner for Protection of Rights who have fought for equal rights for the Rainbow Community” but went further to say, “It is OUR responsibility to fight for OUR rights.”
Mon’Arc en Ciel cofounders Isabelle and Anais Berruti, Cynthia Salvanhac and Laure Bernardi.
Annette also commended the Isabelle and Anais Berruti, Laure Bernardi and Cynthia Salvanhac, the thirtysomething cofounders of the country’s first LGBTQIA+ association, Mon’Arc en Ciel.
When Mon’Arc en Ciel launched a month ago, Anais said in an interview, “Monaco is small, people talk. I have never been uncomfortable saying that I’m in a couple with a woman. But we are young. We are not the same generation as older people who have maybe had different experiences.
“Some individuals feel there’s a risk of being regarded negatively, so they keep quiet. We understand, and that’s why we created this association. To tell these people that, even if they don’t want to speak out, the association will do it for them.
Article first published June 21, 2024. Photos and videos copyright Good News, Monaco.
In Annette Anderson’s fascinating debut in The Monegasquemagazine, her article “Will the Funkiest Prince Please Stand Up?” links two events that marked Monaco’s history in the first week of May 1994. One is the death of F1 driver Ayrton Senna and how “at the request of Michael Schumacher and Keke Rosberg” several drivers, compatriots and Stars’n’Bars owners Kate Powers and Didier Rubiolo “commandeered the upstairs bar and drank into the wee hours, toasting and sharing memories of their fallen brother.” The other, well, you’ll have to pick up a copy of the latest issue to read her compelling story.
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: Author Daniel Ortelli talks about his new book on Ayrton Senna and the FNAC event on Wednesday, May 22.
Thirty years may have passed since Senna died tragically on the Imola circuit aged 34, yet the fascination for the Brazilian driver has not diminished. And a new book Eternel Senna: Le Livre Hommage(Éditions Glénat, €39.95) provides an unprecedented 10-year snapshot of Senna’s character. The 224 pages by Daniel Ortelli, Thomas Woloch and Dominique Leroy cover his Formula 1 debut in 1984 to his final season with Williams and include exclusive testimonials from those close to the man from Sao Paolo.
The trio promoted the book at the Rendez-Vous Culturel at the Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo last Friday. Daniel, a veteran motorsport journalist in the region, said. “Senna always attracted attention, even the years when he didn’t win. Because he was in Pole position, because he was driving a Renault, there was always a good reason to talk about him. There were some years when he won three times, and other years when he didn’t win a title, but it didn’t matter. Every year there were stories to tell about him.”
Eternel Senna authors Daniel Ortelli and Thomas Woloch and photographer Dominique Leroy.
“In France his rivalry with Proust was followed very closely, at a time when TF1 beat all the records for audience sizes. Dominique Leroy was in the front row and we had Dominique’s eye on the event from the beginning to the end. Sometimes during F1 you may have five different photographers and so five different styles of photos. With Dominique, who knows the subject so well, there was unity. The quality was consistent.”
On being approached about the book, Dominique said, “There are always around a hundred photos of Ayrton Senna that appear all the time. But they wanted 500 photos and that was a bit complicated. I started looking in the cellar, in the attic, to try and find some photos. To be honest, three quarters of them were unpublished.”
An accomplished painter, Dominique was at San Marino the day Senna died. “I had the immense privilege during the first Formula One to be sent almost permanently to the Williams garage. On May 1, 1994, I was at the starting line. Ayrton Senna arrived and did something that he never did – he took off his helmet and his balaclava. Everyone was surprised.”
Dominque unknowingly took his penultimate photo of Ayrton Senna at 1:50 pm, 27 minutes before he died and this photograph graces the books cover. (Dominque’s last Senna photo is with the driver wearing his balaclava.)
Daniel added, “The inquiry by AutoSprint, the Italian motorsport magazine, was exemplary. They could have produced something trashy and dramatic that we see nowadays. They knew pretty much exactly what happened. They knew that the steering column had broken, but they didn’t write it. They respected the memory of this champion and they refused to enter into a debate, to create a buzz with the information that they had.”
Rendez-Vous Culturel at the Hotel Metropole on May 11 with Daniel Ortelli, Thomas Woloch, Laurence Genevet and Dominique Leroy.
Thomas Woloch, a Monaco resident and author of Max Verstappen, le sacre d’un champion, shared an insightful anecdote. He had spent months and endless nights researching Eternel Senna speaking to those close to “Beco” as Senna was nicknamed by his parents. Nuno Cobra, Senna’s coach and mentor, who is now in his 80s, explained to Thomas by phone about the dual personalities of Senna. There was Ayrton on one side, and Senna on the other. He adored Ayrton, the sweet and kind family man, but he couldn’t stand Senna, the predator driver, who was ready to do anything to win.
As Thomas described it, “On one occasion, Senna was on his yacht in Sao Paolo. Senna was really annoyed and uptight, and his coach said, ‘Come on, let’s go and play some tennis.’ Senna was known for being anxious and quite surly and his technique for making him feel better was to go and play tennis. So, they played for a couple of hours and the coach told me that Senna gradually became Ayrton. To tease him, whenever he saw Ayrton, he would ask him, ‘Did you lock Senna in your room? Because I don’t want to see him today.’ This was his trainer, his mentor, who knew him so well.”
Authors Thomas Woloch, Daniel Ortelli and photographer Dominique Leroy at Hotel Metropole book signing.
A replica Ayrton Senna, Williams helmet from 1994 will be on display at the book signing. The collector’s item is one of a number of Stars’n’Bars sports memorabilia to be featured at an upcoming auction by Artcurial on July 8 at 2pm at the Hotel Hermitage.
Don’t miss Daniel Ortelli, Thomas Woloch and Dominique Leroy at FNAC Monaco on Tuesday, May 22. The trio will be signing copies of Eternel Senna: Le Livre Hommage from 3-to 5 pm. The book is also available in English to order.
Article first published May 15, 2024. All photos and video copyright Good News Monaco.
WATCH VIDEO: Valerie Closier of the Prince’s Car Collection on the iconic car exhibit and the evolution of Ferrari’s F1 technology (in French).
Back in 2018, Prince Albert told The Independent newspaper, “It’s true that Ferrari and Monaco are the two most important things to F1.”
Certainly, Charles Leclerc might agree. The first Monegasque to drive for the Prancing Horse told me his first Formula One memory is of playing cars with a friend near the first turn and watching the Grand Prix at the same time. While he never followed one driver in particular, he once confessed: “The red car has always been special to me.”
On May 26, 26-year-old Leclerc will race for Scuderia Ferrari as he tries for the fifth time to become the first Monegasque to win the Monaco Grand Prix since Louis Chiron drove a Bugatti to victory in 1931.
WATCH VIDEO: Egon Zweimüller on Luigi Villoresi and the first Ferrari F1 car in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix.
For F1 fans who won’t be cheering from the stands, the Prince’s Car Collection is hosting a less ear-impacting event, Ferrari F1 à Monaco: Histoire et Victoires (Ferrari F1 in Monaco: History and Victories). The exhibition, running until August 31, traces the iconic carmaker’s history back to 1950 and includes 12 single-seaters which have won nine titles.
In addition to Leclerc’s SF90 (2019) and Nigel Mansel’s 640 (1989) in the permanent collection, curator Franco Meiners sourced ten F1 Ferraris from the Schlumpf Collection in Mulhouse, and Maranello, where the manufacturer is based in Italy, and a selection from private collectors
From Ferrari’s first win at the Monaco GP in 1955 with Maurice Trintignant’s 625 to their last, with Sebastian Vettel’s car in 2017, history unfolds with Niki Lauda (1976); Jody Scheckter (1979); Gilles Villeneuve (1981) and Michael Schumacher (winning cars in 1997 and 2001).
WATCH VIDEO: Valerie Closier welcomes Prince Albert, Louis Ducruet and minister of state Pierre Dartout at the inauguration on May 9 (in French).
Ferrari F1 à Monaco: Histoire et Victoires begins with Ferrari’s first race car at the Monaco Grand Prix on May 21, 1950. Enzo and Laura Ferrari had put their savings into entering three single-seaters that year with drivers Alberto Ascari (he placed second), Raymond Sommer and Luigi Villoresi.
Luigi Villoresi’s 125 was the first F1 Ferrari to be built and the only one of the three entered in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix to have kept its initial configuration, the other two having been reworked.
Egon Zweimüller brought the Villoresi vehicle to Monaco. Zweimüller, whose family-run restauration business in Ennsdorf is one of the best in the biz, explained that the Ferrari red car was painted green when it was bought by a British driver. And at one point, it even had a gold nose when it was based in Australia.
Ferrari F1 in Monaco: History and Victories runs until August 31. The Prince’s Car Collection (54 route de la Piscine) is open daily July 1 to August 31: 10am-6pm (July & August 7pm). Tickets €10/adult and €5/ages 6-17.
Article first published May 11, 2024.Images and videos copyright Good News Monaco.
The 10th edition of the fantastic Champagne & Oysters Cycling Club’s charity bike ride took place Sunday, May 5. The enthusiastic group departed from St Tropez at 8 am and cycled 140 km to arrive in Monaco at 4:20 pm, as some 70 riders pedalled down Rue Suffren Reymond to a cheering crowd outside of Slammers.
Princess Charlene arrived shortly after to join Eddie Jordan and Terry Torrison on stage with a long list of thanks to the 700 cyclists who have participated over the years, as well as sponsors and supporters.
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: Princess Charlene joins Eddie Jordan and Terry Torrison on stage to thank the 2024 COCC cyclists and supporters.
Last year, the COCC bike ride raised over €70,000 for the Princess Charlene Foundation but, for the first time, funds raised this year will be shared between the Princess Charlene Foundation and the My Name’5 Doddy Foundation, which funds motor neurone disease research and helps patients and families living with this devastating disease. Donations can be made here: COCC – Princess Charlene Foundation – COCC – My Names’5 Doddie Foundation.
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: St Tropez-Monaco cyclists arrive at Slammers.
The street party with a paid BBQ and Oyster Bar was going strong with live music from the Paul Dobie Band and Caligagan Band. Sponsors of this year’s ride: Plurimi, McLaren, Banque Havilland, Lyon Skin Care, Designing Centre, Relevance, Levmet, Moore, Brash, Far East Commodities, GeeTech, Knight Frank, St Tropez House, iCrew Services, inter-nett and Monaco Projects.
WATCH VIDEOS BELOW: interviews with cyclists John Brash, Rumble Romagnoli and Tessa.
Street party photos
SlammersAndrew Gallagher and Gareth Wittstock, Secretary General of the Princess Charlene Foundation.Eddie Jordan. Princess Charlene Foundation Ambassador Francesco Castellacci. Princess Charlene signs Francesco Castellacci’s bike.Zeynep Onder Castel-branco, Amanda Gallagher and Lisa DeRea Frederiksen.Mark Thomas and Gareth Wittstock, Secretary General of the Princess Charlene Foundation.
Article first published May 5, 2024.All photos and videos copyright Good News Monaco.
Martina Brodie would sum up her childhood in one word: books. “My first memory is of my mom and dad both reading. Always. I was convinced that everybody reads all the time.”
Martina and her two younger brothers were born in the eastern part of Slovakia, in a small town called Sečovce. Growing up under Communism meant a life full of restrictions, including travel outside of the Eastern Bloc. “But I did travel,” insists Martina. “In fact, I travelled Around the World in 80 Days with Jules Verne. For me, our local library was a Treasure Island. It was only later on that I realised these books were carefully checked and censored for any praise of the West and that many authors were banned.”
There was no freedom of religion. “We had to learn Russian at elementary school and, to prevent us from going to church on Sunday mornings, the school organised ‘Sitting by the Samovar’. This was a competitive quiz about Soviet culture.”
Western music was also a no-go. “Once my father brought home the Beatles’ album, Help! Someone had smuggled in the LP and it was so exciting. We were breaking the rules! We couldn’t play it loud, but my brother and I must have listened to this record a million times – dancing and repeating the strange words which we learned by heart not knowing what they meant. Years later, when I met Ringo Starr in Monaco, I was starstruck and left speechless from a flood of memories.”
Martina moved to Monaco in 2010 with her husband, Ian, founder of NEWS.mc. The couple first laid eyes on each other just before Christmas 1996 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Journalism major Martina had started her weekend job at the country’s first Irish pub, Dubliners. Ian, who was publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Central European Business Weekly, which he founded in Prague in 1992, was at the bar on opening night. They didn’t speak that first time.
The Dubliners became a distribution point for Ian’s weekly newspaper. As Martina recalls, “My Irish friend at the pub saw me laugh out loud reading its tongue-and-cheek column Central European Diary and made sure that I met this guy when he next came to visit.”
Martina was in the process of breaking up with her boyfriend when she was formally introduced to Ian at the pub. “Our chat turned out to be a night-long discussion. And it must have been interesting because I stayed up talking to Ian until early morning. I remember leaving the underground bar and there was daylight. I was about to hop on one of the first trams of the day when Ian asked for my number. There were no mobile phones back then and I couldn’t afford a landline so I made up six digits on the spot, which he duly noted down. I knew I would never see this guy again. What I failed to tell him was that I was leaving town to finish my thesis and be with my family. A few days later I quit my job at the pub and left the capital for a long time.”
Martina heard from friends that Ian had been relentlessly calling the fictious number. “He would come from Prague to the pub in Bratislava most weekends, asking everyone about my whereabouts. When I returned a year later, people were coming up to me with Ian’s number saying they had had enough of this guy looking for me. I was like, Which guy? … Don’t tell Ian!”
Martina called Ian. The next day he once again took the five-hour train from Prague. “Lunch turned into dinner and the rest is history, well with a twist. I was aware of the nearly 30-year age difference so I travelled around the world to make up my mind. Ian followed me. To Mexico. To California. To Canada. He really is the most tenacious person I know!”
Except for when Martina went to Japan for three months with an international group – Up With People – and lived with host families in nine places. “My Japanese host mothers were very supportive of my dilemma. They told me, ‘Martina, many people do not experience what love is. You seem to have found it, don’t throw it away. Even if he is much older – go for it – and when he dies, you will find another!’”
Accepting the advice, by age 30 Martina and Ian were living back in Bratislava and had two children. She worked as a freelance television and radio journalist, and also helped Ian start a monthly bilingual magazine, Business Slovakia.
When Ian’s mother had health issues, the family moved to Wellington in the UK. Martina looked for work. “It was 2007 and you couldn’t find a good cup of coffee. This was long before the big chains discovered this pleasant town in southwest England. So together with a friend – and on a very tight budget – we opened the Chocolate Box, a continental café selling Belgian pralines and ten types of hot chocolates,” Martina shares.
“It was no ordinary café. It very chocolatey and magical, and even though I had no previous experience running a café, it was a success from day one. The boys were small and I worked 24/7 baking most of the goods we were selling. After four years I was exhausted.”
It was time to sell the coffee shop and use the money to return to Slovakia. Ian had already gone ahead to prepare the family cottage when Martina picked up a copy of the Sunday Times. “I read this wonderful article about Monaco written by Evelyne Genta, the Monaco ambassador to the UK. The piece mentioned how Monaco is full of opportunities for young entrepreneurs with good ideas, that it is a great place to live as well as a safe place for families. I called my husband to say: ‘Stop whatever you are doing. We are going to live in Monaco.’ Ian agreed and that is how crazy we are. We did it.”
They packed up the hired van and drove with the kids from the UK for Monaco. Ian started a job as Editor-in-Chief at the Riviera Times, the boys were enrolled in local schools, and Martina? “I was desperate to learn French and explore life on the Riviera. Except nothing worked out. The boys had a terrible time at school. They didn’t speak French and the whole system was brutally different from the UK. They say you can only be as happy as your least-happy child. Well, they were both depressed and it was hard for me as a mom.”
On top of that, Ian’s job didn’t work out and he quit. “I was furious! However, it was 2010 and we both knew Monaco would benefit from an English-language news service as nothing else existed at the time. That’s how Monaco Life started – first as a print magazine, later as online daily news. It was exciting and growth was rapid.”
The British Association of Monaco, led by Vanessa Ilsley, and Anette Anderson at MonacoUSA supported Martina and Ian from day one. “They may be our most favourite people in Monaco,” Martina admits. “It is never easy to come to a new country and try to connect with like-minded people and I will never forget how welcoming they were. When life wasn’t easy, they were always there. In fact, I think it was Annette who took the ‘famous’ photo of us dancing at Stars’n’Bars around 2012 or so.”
The other point bookish Martina remembers from those early days is her need to join a book club – any book club. “I wanted to get to know people but clubs were not accepting new members … so I started my own, the Monte Carlo Reading Society. We had some good laughs and the six women who joined are my closest friends to this day.”
Still, Monaco’s promise of “a great place to live” was not all it cracked up to be. “They say you have to give a new place at least two years before you make a decision to stay or to move on. I gave it three. I had to make a hard decision to take the boys back to finish their education in Wellington. Ian stayed a bit longer and sold Monaco Life before moving back with us.”
They stayed in the UK for four years but in July 2019 Ian returned to Monaco to start Monaco Daily News – aka NEWS.mc. “The boys wanted to return to the Riviera. I was hesitant because I truly love the UK. I had a great job working for the 250-year-old Fox Brothers and it doesn’t happen often that you have the best colleagues, the best management and inspiring owners. I worked in the best company in the world really, truly. It was a hard decision to follow my family.
“I could say coming back to Monaco this time was much easier than before. Maybe. The boys had finished school so that was easier. Ian now has two wonderful partners and our boys Max, 19, and Jack, 23, are very much part of the business, too, so my role is more a supportive one. Although, I must say, the written interview will always be my favourite type of journalism. I love people’s stories and Monaco is so rich in this department.”
Although Martina studied journalism, as a child she wanted to be a teacher. “My mom was a history teacher and although she was very strict, her lessons were so imprinted on the students they didn’t need to write one single thing down. She had a gift of storytelling that stayed with you. I know this first hand because as a small child she would sneak me into her afternoon classes.”
Martina adds, “They say when the student is ready, the right teacher arrives. And I was ready when the Face Yoga Method came to my life at the best possible moment. After a six-month Face Yoga Method Teachers Training, I became certified on November 1st and am starting my online classes from January 2024.
The name Face Yoga Method was coined by Fumiko Takatsu, a Japanese woman who created the concept of a holistic approach to looking after the face. As Martina puts it, “At first it was pure vanity for me. I wanted to get rid of wrinkles and get that bulging double chin under control, but what I found was a whole new dimension of tension release. Quite frankly, our face doesn’t start at our chin, but at our feet.
“Just like we exercise and tone our body muscles, we can do the same with our facial muscles. And as we do we increase the blood circulation which results in more oxygen bringing more nutrients to our skin. It’s a non-invasive, all-natural way to achieve a more youthful appearance and improve our skin’s texture with no special equipment needed. Just a little bit of diligence and perseverance.”
The more Martina learned about Face Yoga, the more it resonated from within. “I wanted to learn how to teach it and share the excitement. Little by little, we can wake up the muscles on our face and start a fully facial workout, aligning our bodies, our skin and ourselves. It’s all interconnected and consistency is paramount here.”
The classes will run on a monthly subscription basis at a very reasonable cost and even though this self-care is a never-ending journey, Martina’s students will be able to practice certain poses and continue their inspired Face Yoga journey on their own. “As my teacher Fumiko says, ‘Change your face, change your life’. I like to say: Every face tells a story, let yours be uplifting.”
To say this has been a tough year for Martina is an understatement. She lost both her parents, unexpectedly and suddenly. “My Face Yoga daily practice helped me tremendously to deal with this emotional trauma keeping me grounded, focused and calm.”
Part of that focus is remembering her folks with gratitude. “When Communism collapsed and my father started his private dentistry practice, it didn’t do so well and he simply couldn’t cope with the new rules of capitalism. My mom was the breadwinner. When his business collapsed, they both went to America and washed cars at petrol stations for five years to pay my father’s debts and to save their house. They paid every single penny back. And kept their house, for us.”
She thinks back to that Help! album her father snuck into the family home when she was a young girl, and singing and dancing with her brother to The Beatles. Martina wishes she could go back to that day she met Ringo Starr to say: ‘You have no idea what you mean to me. You opened a whole new window to my future when I first heard and spoke English, the language I now speak, write … and will use to teach.’”
Email Martina Brodie about her Face Yoga Method classes or contact her via Facebook.
