What Do You Know About Napoleon’s Homeland?
The city of Ajaccio. The capital of the province, the largest city and port on the island of Corsica. A city where every place is somehow intertwined with history.
Let’s talk a little about its history. According to legends, the city was founded by Ajax, a hero of the Trojan War, but it is more likely that the name of the city comes from the Latin word Adjaccium (literally — “resting place”), since from time immemorial in winter shepherds stopped here, descending from the mountains to replenish stocks and sell their products. The old town, once located in the northern region of Castelvecchio, was destroyed by the Saracens in the 10th century, and modern Ajaccio grew up around a citadel founded in 1492. Therefore, all historical monuments date back to the period of the XV-XIX centuries, and the capital of the island itself is considered a rather uninteresting place.
What can you see here and how the city is built? The core of the Old City now looks like a few blocks of ancient cobbled streets, centred around the Foch Square, which adjoins the embankment and port. Place de Gaulle, also known as the Place du Diamant, is the most popular starting point for excursions, although the huge bronze equestrian statue of Napoleon I (1865) is the only monument of note. The city is saturated with the cult of Napoleon — the famous Corsican who was born here, although he spent only 9 years on the island. Above the Foch, or Place del Palmier, a fountain of four marble lions dominates, on which rests the statue of Napoleon, which is inevitable here, and the more modest statue of the patron saint of the city — La Madonnucia (1656) — occupies only a niche in the nearby the wall. In the northern part of the square rises the town hall (1826) with its similar prison gates and the Napoleonic salon (it contains an exact copy of the emperor’s death mask and many items that belonged to or copy Bonaparte’s personal belongings). Every day (except Sundays in winter), the square behind the town hall hosts a small fair where you can buy the best products from local farmers. But the truly iconic is the colossal house of Bonaparte on the Place de la Leticia — the home of Napoleon. Belonging to the state since 1923, it has quite a few traces of the “little Corsican” stay here but has preserved many other objects of those years, including an endless series of portraits, miniatures, weapons, maps, letters and documents. Nearby is the Cathedral of Ajaccio (1587–1593), where Napoleon was baptized in 1771.
To the east, you can go to Daniella Casanova Boulevard, where the beautifully carved entrance gates of the tiny Capitella Museum with a good exposition telling about the life of Ajaccio in the 19th century immediately catches your eye. Opposite the museum is a carefully restored hexagonal fortress that saddles a wide promontory (closed to the public). Founded in the 15th century, the fort was never completed, but it is an indispensable element of the panorama of Ajaccio. A little further along the embankment, in front of the municipal sports centre, there is a Sunday flea market, and the entire coastline between the fort and Trottel Square is occupied by a strip of narrow beaches.
North of the town hall and the city’s tourist office is the delightful winding rue Cardinal-Fesch, teeming with shops, cafes and restaurants. The best gallery in the city, the Fesch Museum, is also located here. Cardinal Joseph Fesch was Napoleon’s uncle and bishop of Lyons, so he used his lucrative position to invest in paintings that now serve as the rightful pride of Ajaccio. Just behind the gallery’s courtyard is the Chapelle-Imperiale chapel (1857), in the crypt of which members of the Bonaparte family are buried. The last wish of the cardinal was the repose of all members of this vast family under one roof, which was fulfilled.
Here is such an interesting capital of Corsica, which you can visit on eMoped and which will always surprise you with its stories and secrets.
