VILLA ORMOND
Villa Ormond, offcial seat of the Institute, originally belonged to the local Rambaldi family who later sold it to the Ormond family (Michel-Louis Ormond, Switzerland and Mrs Marie Marguerite Renet, France). In 1887 the Villa was destroyed by an earthquake. Two years later the owners commissioned Emile Reverdin, a Swiss architect, to re-build it to it’s actual state. In 1930, the Villa was bought by the Municipality of Sanremo. For a while, it served as the local law courts. Since 1987 it has been the seat of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law.
The surrounding park hosts a Japanese garden which marks the frutiful friendship existing between Sanremo and the Japanese town of Atami. The southern section of the park lies across the main road (Corso Cavallotti) and is enhanced by statues portraying two of the most famous inhabitants of Sanremo: Ignacio Altamirano, the Mexican "poeta, historiador, politico, orador", who died in Sanremo in 1893, and Nicola I, Sovereign of Montenegro.
Villa Ormond is kindly granted to the Institute by the Municipality of Sanremo.