Fontana Rosa, Literary garden in Menton, France

Fontana Rosa is a garden in Menton built from 1922 by writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, with Spanish and Menton ceramic decoration. Its entrance wall bears a tiled band reading "EL JARDIN DE LOS NOVELISTAS" and "FONTANA ROSA", with portrait tiles of Balzac, Cervantes and Dickens. The grounds hold a raised villa with library and cinema room, the 19th-century Villa Emilia below, fountains, a colonnade and a steel pergola over a staircase.

Spanish writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez founded this place in 1922 as a personal retreat. He worked on his literary creations here until his death in 1928, making it a working space for his novels.

The garden's name, El Jardín de los Novelistas, comes from Blasco Ibáñez's homage to his favourite writers: portrait tiles of Balzac, Cervantes and Dickens frame the entrance gate, and a semicircular rotunda is decorated with a hundred illustrations of Don Quixote. Sculptures are by Léopold Bernstamm, and the ceramic decoration was made by François and Eugène Donadoni of the Saïssi firm in Menton.

Access is by guided tour only, run by the heritage service, on Monday and Friday at 10am. The entrance is on Avenue Blasco Ibáñez near Garavan station, and the visit covers a sloping site with a long central staircase, so allow time and wear firm shoes.

A small screening room inside the garden building once showed film adaptations of the founder's works. This detail reveals how the space connected classic literature with early cinema in a single place.