The square goes pink
On the evening of October 3, Princess Charlène lit Casino Square pink to open Pink Ribbon Monaco's sixteenth annual campaign. For the rest of the month, 24 institutions across the principality will glow in the same colour.
On the evening of Saturday, October 3, Casino Square turned pink. Princess Charlène of Monaco pressed the symbolic switch that bathed Casino Square in rose light, opening Pink October, the month-long breast cancer awareness campaign organised by Pink Ribbon Monaco. The Princess, who serves as the charity's honorary president, was joined by the association's founder and president, Natasha Frost-Savio.
It was the sixteenth edition of the illumination. Through October, 24 institutions across the principality, including the Prince's Palace, will light their facades in pink in support of the prevention, screening, and treatment of breast and gynaecological cancers. The charity describes itself as the first association in the region to mark Women's Cancer Awareness Month by illuminating buildings in pink, a practice it began when Natasha Frost-Savio founded the organisation in 2011.
The illumination capped a two-day fundraising programme. It opened on Friday, October 2, with a reception at the Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, and continued on Saturday morning with the first Monaco Invitational, a golf tournament at the Royal Mougins Golf Club that brought together up to 72 players in 18 teams under the direction of the Australian musician and golfer Cameron Avery, a touring member of Tame Impala. That evening, after the square went pink, supporters moved to the Salle Empire and the terrace of the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo for a black-tie gala with a live auction.
The money raised supports the charity's core mission: breast and gynaecological cancer awareness, prevention, early detection, and local women's health initiatives. The campaign pairs the visible gesture, a principality lit in pink, with the quiet work of screening and education: the association promotes physical activity, healthier lifestyles, and regular screening as the tools that reduce risk and catch disease early.
There is a reason the illumination works as a campaign. Monaco's most recognisable assets, the palace, the casino, the square itself, are also its most photographed, and a pink facade on the casino travels further than a pamphlet. The principality has spent a century turning visibility into value. For its sixteenth October, Pink Ribbon Monaco has turned that visibility into something else: a reminder, beamed from the most famous square on the Riviera, that prevention is the cheapest treatment there is.
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