Genoese Aiacciu

Ajaccio (week 34)

Starting in 1530, the Genoans built a series of 90 (!) defensive towers around the island of Corsica as part of their campaign against the Barbary pirates.  We could see two of them from the balcony of our hotel, which was located ~10 km west of Ajaccio on the coastal road.  The towers are in the Iles Sanguinaires nature preserve.  One of them - Torra di a Parata  - is on the mainland coast and is accessible in the winter.  The other - Torra di Castelluchju - is on an island in the nature preserve.  The path around the headland and up to the tower is the perfect distance for the boys, so we had a nice visit there.

Clockwise from top left: Tour Fautea (near Zonza), Tour de Parata, and the tourist info screen on Ajaccio's towers

The site of the current city of Ajaccio was first colonized by Genoa in 1492 and remained a Genoese stronghold through the period of Corsican independence, finally undergoing an orderly exchange of Genoese for French troops at the Citadel when the island changed hands by treaty (actually by sale to France) in 1768.  Previous to the Genoese town, there was a nearby Corsican town, being at one point large enough to have a cathedral.  That cathedral was replaced by the current Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Assomption - built starting in 1577 - which is a small but cheery cathedral with some well-preserved (or restored) chapels.  When we first arrived a funeral was taking place, so we went for lunch.  Unfortunately, the waterfront is under extensive construction so what was normally a nice view of the harbour and marina from the restaurant patio (it was warm enough to eat outside) was instead a view of a corrugated steel barrier.

moat donkey!

Of the multiple other religious buildings in town, we could not find any open, so we had to content ourselves with reading the National Historic Site plaques mounted on their walls.  As for the Citadel, it is off-limits because it is still an active military installation with, for some reason, donkeys living in the moat.