The Villa Massena, built between 1898 and 1901 on the model of the Italian villas of the 1st Empire, was built on the “promenade des Anglais” for a grandson of the Marshal Victor Masséna, duke of Rivoli, and that became in 1898 the 5th prince d'Essling.
After the war, in 1917, the son of Victor Masséna, Andre, made gift of this palate at the town of Nice. It fixes two conditions: that the Villa Massena is transformed into museum of regional history and the gardens open to the public. The museum was inaugurated in 1921
