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Month: June 2026

Monaco relaunches anti-cigarette litter campaign for 16th year

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/06/2026

Monaco’s Mairie has launched the 16th edition of ‘Monaco Zéro Mégot,’ its long-running campaign against cigarette butt litter, with free pocket ashtrays distributed to residents, workers and visitors across the Principality this summer.

The campaign launched on Tuesday at the Marché de la Condamine, with Marjorie Crovetto, deputy mayor for quality of life, the environment and sustainable development, on hand alongside municipal council members and Kamila Ansiau of the Tourism and Convention Authority. Crovetto described the market as a fitting place to mark the relaunch, calling it a hub of everyday community life.

New distribution point at the market

A new distribution point has opened near the market’s shared library, located beneath the central marquee, alongside existing points at Monaco’s Town Hall and the Médiathèque Caroline. Pocket ashtrays will also be handed out at the Tourism and Convention Authority’s reception points throughout the summer. The campaign distributes around 6,000 of the reusable ashtrays each year, keeping the visual design created last year by artist Mr. One Teas.

A small habit with an outsized environmental cost

Crovetto pointed to the scale of the problem the campaign is designed to address, noting that cigarette butts are consistently among the most common items collected during World Clean Up Day, the global litter-collection event Monaco will hold again on 19th September. A single cigarette butt, she said, can contaminate up to 500 litres of water, a figure consistent with environmental research showing cigarette filters are among the most pervasive sources of ocean pollution worldwide.

Through the campaign, the Mairie and its partners are aiming to encourage residents and tourists alike to take simple, low-effort steps to help preserve Monaco’s environment.

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Photo source: Mairie de Monaco

 

New cross-border cycle path to finally link Menton and Ventimiglia

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/06/2026

A new cycle path linking Ventimiglia and Menton has secured almost €2 million in funding, forming the first stretch of the Ciclovia Tirrenica and a section of the EuroVelo 8 Mediterranean Route that will eventually run the length of the Italian and French coastlines.

The funding was announced on Tuesday at the launch of EDUMOB3, a three-year sustainable mobility project backed by the Interreg France-Italy ALCOTRA programme and largely financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The project is led by the Liguria region, working alongside the municipality of Ventimiglia, the Alpes-Maritimes department and the municipality of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, with completion expected by June 2028.

Closing the final cross-border gap

The centrepiece of the project is a new cycle path between the Italian border and the Balzi Rossi museum in Ventimiglia, which will close the last gap in a continuous cross-border cycling route along the coast, connecting directly into the existing path on the French side. On the French side of the border, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin will upgrade a stretch of Avenue Winston Churchill to strengthen the link towards Menton, with the Alpes-Maritimes department coordinating the cross-border technical work. Beyond the infrastructure itself, the project also includes an educational strand aimed at encouraging everyday cycling among schools and residents.

Part of a wider coastal cycling network

Liguria’s infrastructure councillor, Giacomo Raul Giampedrone, said the project carried particular symbolic weight, since the Ventimiglia stretch will mark the starting point of the Ciclovia Tirrenica, a route planned to run from Ventimiglia to Rome.

He noted that 45 kilometres of the route between Ospedaletti and Andora had opened only days earlier, with the wider route expected to bring environmental, sporting and tourism benefits as it crosses the Ligurian coast.

Ventimiglia’s mayor, Flavio Di Muro, framed the project as part of a broader ambition for the town. “I think a mayor, beyond managing the day-to-day life of his community, also needs a vision for the future that looks at the new challenges facing the city, while promoting its tourism potential,” he said, adding that the goal was for Ventimiglia to be recognised not as a border town but as an international one.

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Photos source: Mairie de Ventimiglia

 

Monaco sets out Council of Europe presidency priorities in Strasbourg

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/06/2026

Monaco’s Minister of State Christophe Mirmand and Foreign Affairs Minister Isabelle Berro-Amadeï addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe this week, setting out the priorities of the Principality’s presidency of the Committee of Ministers to representatives of the organisation’s 46 member states.

The appearances came during the Parliamentary Assembly’s summer session, running from 22nd to 26th June in Strasbourg, and marked one of the first major set-piece moments of Monaco’s presidency, which began on 15th May and runs until 10th November. It is the first time the Principality has held the role since joining the Council of Europe in 2004.

Two addresses, two roles

Mirmand addressed the Assembly on 22nd June in a national capacity, taking questions from members and reaffirming Monaco’s commitment to the Council of Europe’s founding values, while highlighting what officials describe as the Monegasque model’s focus on proximity, solidarity and practical solutions.

Berro-Amadeï followed the next day, this time speaking as president of the Committee of Ministers, setting out the organisation’s recent achievements alongside the priorities Monaco has chosen for its six-month term. She also stressed the importance of dialogue, cooperation and multilateralism in addressing Europe’s current challenges. The presidency’s five stated priorities cover gender equality and violence against women, child protection and online radicalisation, sport as a tool for social inclusion, and collective security against organised crime.

Monaco’s Minister of State Christophe Mirmand. Photo credit: Stéphane Danna, Government Communications Department

Bilateral talks on the sidelines

Alongside the Assembly sessions, Mirmand and Berro-Amadeï held bilateral meetings with Secretary General Alain Berset, Assembly President Petra Bayr and the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, taking stock of the presidency’s progress so far and discussing the key dates ahead over the coming months.

Monaco’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, made up of National Council members Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo, Christophe Brico, Christine Pasquier-Ciulla and Régis Bergonzi, also took an active role in the session’s proceedings.

Separately, as part of the presidency’s cultural programme, Berro-Amadeï opened a photography exhibition on Monaco’s architectural heritage, which will be on display at the Council of Europe for two weeks.

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Photo of Foreign Affairs Minister Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, credit: Stéphane Danna, Government Communications Department 

How Monte Carlo Race Club turned Grand Prix weekend into a rooftop spectacle

by: Staff Writer
24/06/2026

Monte Carlo Race Club, in partnership with BND Events, welcomed guests to its Rose de France Rooftop and Panorama Terraces throughout the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, offering a hospitality programme that combined race viewing with a series of cultural and lifestyle events.

The venues overlooked key sections of the circuit as Kimi Antonelli secured a historic victory, becoming the youngest winner in Monaco Grand Prix history.

Gipsy Kings founder Tonino Baliardo performing during Monaco Grand Prix 2026 on the rooftop of Rose de France

A cultural highlight on the Rose de France Rooftop

Among the weekend’s notable events was a private screening of the Gipsy Kings Documentary, directed by Joel Van Der Molen, followed by an acoustic performance by Gipsy Kings founder Tonino Baliardo. The event was organised by BND Events and Monte Carlo Race Club in collaboration with Liora Global and BGI.

The rooftop programme also included DJ sets, hospitality experiences and a gathering for international students hosted with Twenty-Eight Degrees, bringing together guests from a range of backgrounds during the race weekend.

DJ booth at Rose de France

Hospitality and entertainment on the Panorama Terraces

On the Panorama’s 13th and 14th floor terraces, guests watched the action unfold above Sainte Dévote and Monaco’s harbour while enjoying a programme of live music and entertainment.

Friday’s schedule featured an online auction broadcast through eBay Live, offering Formula 1 memorabilia and collectible sports cards, while Saturday included a wine tasting led by Travaglini Gattinara, showcasing wines from Italy’s Piedmont region.

Across both venues, the focus remained on providing guests with a varied Grand Prix experience that extended beyond the racing itself, combining trackside views with music, culture and hospitality throughout the weekend.

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Photos provided

Extras wanted in Nice and Monaco for Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper’s Ocean’s prequel

by: Cassandra Tanti
23/06/2026

Casting is underway for extras aged 18 to 90 to appear in the upcoming Ocean’s Eleven prequel, with filming set to take place in Nice and Monaco from 24th August to 15th October.

The untitled Warner Bros. film, directed by Bradley Cooper and starring both Cooper and Margot Robbie, is set at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix and follows the parents of Danny Ocean, the heist mastermind played by George Clooney in the original franchise. Wagner Moura, fresh off his Oscar-nominated turn in The Secret Agent, is attached to play the film’s antagonist.

A strict period look required

Casting notices published by Tous les Castings call for a wide range of period-appropriate extras: hotel and casino staff such as waiters, sommeliers, croupiers and concierges; bodyguards, police officers, firefighters and lifeguards; mechanics, racing drivers and motorsport engineers; dancers, musicians and English-speaking actors with light-double experience; and boat crew, sailors and scooter riders.

A further call is open for crowd-scene extras of all backgrounds, though with notably strict requirements: no visible tattoos, piercings or cosmetic surgery, no modern hair colouring, a maximum height of 1.82m for men and 1.72m for women, and short haircuts required for male applicants. Anyone applying for the 1960s crowd scenes must live in Nice, Monaco or within an hour’s travel of the area.

Costume fittings ahead of filming

Costume fittings will run for half a day between 5th and 23rd August, ahead of the shoot itself, with applicants asked to commit to at least one full day of filming during the August-to-October window, and in some cases several consecutive days for continuity scenes. Applications are being taken through Tous les Castings’ website, with candidates encouraged to detail any relevant experience, from hospitality and motorsport to sailing, dance, security work or stunt and light-double work.

Production on the prequel is expected to begin in Paris in July before moving to the south of France, with the film slated for release in cinemas on 25th June 2027.

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Photo taken from YouTube video of Monaco Grand Prix 1962

Charlotte Casiraghi honours Monaco’s new generation of police officers

by: Virginia D’Umas
23/06/2026

The Auditorium Rainier III in Monaco served as backdrop for a solemn and significant occasion on Monday 22nd June, as Charlotte Casiraghi joined the new recruits of the Monaco Police Force for their traditional badge and epaulette ceremony. These two cohorts, collectively named the ‘Charlotte Casiraghi Promotions’, marked the successful conclusion of an intensive 10-month initial training programme.

The event was defined by the presence of Charlotte Casiraghi, who has served as the Godmother of the Sûreté Publique since 1997. Addressing the newly graduated officers, Casiraghi spoke of the profound weight of their new roles: “I am proud that this promotion of trainee police lieutenants and agents will bear my name. I saw it as both a mark of trust and a powerful symbol of the bond that unites me with the Sûreté Publique. I fully measure the responsibility that this sponsorship represents”.

She also highlighted the rigours of their chosen path. “Behind this solemn gesture lies hours of effort, discipline, learning and overcoming oneself,” said the daughter of Princess Caroline of Hanover. “You have chosen a profession that requires courage, commitment and a sharp sense of service to the general interest.”.

A tradition of excellence

The ceremony, supported by the Direction of Cultural Affairs, celebrated not only the personal achievements of the graduates but also the enduring values of the Monegasque police force: Fides, Diligentia et Virtus (Faith, Diligence and Virtue).

The graduates, comprising two lieutenants and 29 police agents, were commended for their outstanding results, with average scores surpassing 16 out of 20 for lieutenants and 14 out of 20 for agents. These officers are now tasked with upholding the Constitution and the law, serving as the visible guardians of security for citizens, residents, and visitors alike.

Théo Jadaud receives his badge and epaulettes from Contrôleur Eric Arella, Director of the Sûreté Publique, during the graduation ceremony. Photo by Monaco Life

Honouring service and looking ahead

Eric Arella, Director of the Sûreté Publique, used the platform to express his gratitude to the government authorities, the National Council, and the instructors who guided the cohorts throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. Special tributes were also paid to long-serving members of the force, including Brigadier Marie-Pierre and Major Patrick Bélanger, who are both approaching their retirements following distinguished careers.

As the new officers prepare to take up their duties on 8th July, Charlotte Casiraghi offered them a final piece of advice. “I wish for you to keep throughout your career the enthusiasm, humility and sense of duty that animate you today,” she said. “So, all my congratulations to the ‘Charlotte Casiraghi Promotion’ and I wish you a beautiful path in the service of the Principality of Monaco.”

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Main photo by Monaco Life