Bicknell Museum, the Pleasure of Discovery
The Bicknell Museum is a living testimony to Bordighera’s recent history. Thanks to the publication of the novel Il Dottor Antonio by Giovanni Ruffini in the United Kingdom, Bordighera became a favourite holiday destination for many prominent English families at the end of the 19th century.
Even the London gentleman Clarence Bicknell – a mathematician, botanist and forerunner of Esperanto – was fascinated by the Riviera. In 1878, Bicknell bought Villa Rosa in Bordighera and began to study the local flora.
Over the course of his research, he discovered and devoted himself to studying the rock engravings of Mont Bégo and the Maritime Alps.
In 1888, Bicknell transformed Villa Rosa into a museum, and created a library where visitors could admire the material collected during his research. Part of the residential complex is now home to the prestigious International Institute of Ligurian Studies.
