Casinò di Sanremo

The Casinò di Sanremo opened in 1905, at the height of the Italian Riviera's popularity with wintering European aristocracy, and its architecture reflects the moment precisely: an Art Nouveau, or Liberty-style, building by Eugenio Ferret with a symmetrical stone façade, twin end pavilions, and generous glazing designed to pull in sea light. It was conceived deliberately as a rival attraction to the casinos of the French Riviera just across the border, and much of its early clientele arrived by the same rail line that still runs along the coast today.

Inside, the house keeps a clear split between its two gaming cultures. The ground floor houses the more casual American games room — Roulette, Blackjack, and slot machines in a large, brightly lit hall aimed at a broad evening crowd. Upstairs, the French gaming rooms preserve a more formal, quieter register, with Chemin de fer and higher-stakes tables in rooms that keep much of the original early-twentieth-century detailing: parquet floors, ornamental plasterwork, and tall shuttered windows looking toward the sea.

Sanremo's casino has also long doubled as a cultural venue — its theatre has hosted galas connected to the Sanremo Music Festival, Italy's oldest and best-known song contest, and the building's public rooms occasionally host exhibitions and concerts alongside the gaming floor. That civic role gives the house a slightly different character from a purely commercial casino: locals treat it as a landmark first and a gaming room second.

A visit pairs naturally with a walk through Sanremo's old town and seafront promenade; the casino sits at the hinge between the modern town and La Pigna, the medieval quarter on the hill behind it, and its rooftop terrace gives one of the better views back over the bay.