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Seen from the water, Calvi is a beautiful spectacle, with its three immense bastions topped by a crest of ochre buildings, sharply defined against a hazy backdrop of snow-capped mountains. Twenty kilometres west along the coast from L'ÃŽle Rousse, the town began as a fishing port on the site of the present-day ville basse below the citadel, and remained just a cluster of houses and fishing shacks until the Pisans conquered the island in the tenth century. Not until the arrival of the Genoese, however, did the town become a stronghold when, in 1268, Giovaninello de Loreto, a Corsican nobleman, built a huge citadel on the windswept rock overlooking the port and named it Calvi. A fleet commanded by Nelson launched a brutal two-month attack on the town in 1793, when Nelson lost his eye; he left saying he hoped never to see the place again.
The French concentrated on developing Ajaccio and Bastia during the nineteenth century, and Calvi became primarily a military base, used as a point for smuggling arms to the mainland in World War II. A hang out for European glitterati in the 1950s, the town these days has the ambience of a slightly kitsch Côte d'Azur resort, whose glamorous marina, souvenir shops and fussy boutiques jar with the down-to-earth villages of its rural hinterland. It's also an important base for the French Foreign Legion, and immaculately uniformed legionnaires are a common sight around the bars lining avenue de la République
Social life in Calvi focuses on the restaurants and cafés of the quai Landry , a spacious seafront walkway linking the marina and the port. This is the best place to get the feel of the town, but as far as sights go there's not a lot to the ville basse. At the far end of the quay, under the shadow of the citadel, stands the sturdy Tour du Sel , a medieval lookout post once used to store imported salt. If you strike up through the narrow passageways off quai Landry, you'll come to rue Clemenceau , where restaurants and souvenir shops are packed into every available space. In a small square giving onto the street stands the pink-painted Ste-Marie-Majeure , built in 1774, whose spindly bell tower rises elegantly above the cafés on the quay but whose interior contains nothing of interest. From the church's flank, a flight of steps connects with boulevard Wilson , a wide modern high street which rises to place Christophe-Colomb , point of entry for the ville haute , or citadel.
Beyond the ancient gateway to the citadel, with its inscription of the town's motto, you come immediately to the enormous Caserne Sampiero , formerly the governor's palace. Built in the thirteenth century, when the great round tower was used as a dungeon, the castle was recently restored and is currently used for military purposes, and therefore closed to the public. The best way of seeing the rest of the citadel is to follow the ramparts, which connect the three immense bastions. From each bastion the views across the sea, the Balagne and the Cinto Massif are magnificent.
Within the walls the houses are tightly packed along tortuous stairways and narrow passages that converge on the diminutive place d'Armes. Dominating the square is the Cathédrale St-Jean-Baptiste , set at the highest point of the promontory and sitting uncomfortably amid the ramshackle buildings. This chunky ochre edifice was founded in the thirteenth century, but was partly destroyed during the Turkish siege of 1553 and then suffered extensive damage twelve years later, when the powder magazine in the governor's palace exploded. It was rebuilt in the form of a Greek cross, as you see today. The church's great treasure is the Christ des Miracles , housed in the chapel on the right of the choir; this crucifix was brandished at marauding Turks during the siege of 1553, an act which reputedly saved the day.
To the north of place d'Armes in rue de Fil stands the shell of the building that Calvi believes was Christopher Columbus's birthplace , as the plaque on the wall states, but the claim rides on pretty tenuous, circumstantial evidence. The house itself was destroyed by Nelson's troops during the siege of 1794, but as recompense a statue was erected on May 20, 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's "discovery" of America; his alleged birthday, October 12, is now a public holiday in Calvi.
Calvi's outstanding beach sweeps right round the bay from the end of quai Landry, but most of the first kilometre or so is owned by bars which rent out sun loungers for a hefty price. To avoid these, follow the track behind the sand which will bring you to the start of a more secluded stretch. The sea might not be as sparklingly clear as at many other Corsican beaches, but it's warm, shallow and free of rocks. You can also sunbathe, and swim off the rocks, at the foot of the citadel, which have the added attraction of fine views across the bay.
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