Corse 2018 : Calvi / Corsica

Vue depuis la Citadelle / viewed from the Citadelle + PIPs
A voir en grand, see enlarged.



Calvi, l’une des principales places de Corse au début du xvie siècle, a été la résidence du gouverneur génois de 1544 à 1548.
L'érection de la Citadelle date de 1483. Ses contreforts sont consolidés en 1545, devant la menace franco-turque. Les murailles seront complétées au XVIIe siècle.
Durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Calvi fut un lieu important de la résistance corse à l'occupant fasciste.
L'économie calvaise est aujourd'hui essentiellement basée sur le tourisme estival lui conférant un statut relativement précaire.

Note:
La municipalité revendique la naissance de Christophe Colomb en ses murs. Des panneaux le signalent à chaque entrée de la ville. Une stèle a été érigée à la base des remparts de la citadelle. Aucun élément historique ne vient cependant confirmer cette hypothèse très controversée !

Calvi, one of the main places in Corsica at the beginning of the 16th century, was the residence of the Genoese governor from 1544 to 1548.
The Citadel was built in 1483. Its foothills were consolidated in 1545, in front of the Franco-Turkish threat. The walls were completed in the 17th century.
During the Second World War, Calvi was an important place of Corsican resistance to the fascist occupier.
Today, the economy of Calvi is essentially based on summer tourism, which gives it a relatively precarious status.

Note:
The municipality claims the birth of Christopher Columbus. Signs indicate this at each entrance to the city. A stele was erected at the base of the citadel's ramparts. However, there is no historical evidence to support this highly controversial hypothesis!

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Cathedral
Located in the Upper Town in the fortress, the cathedral conceals beautiful and very old works of art: the baptismal font and the polychrome marble main altar, the triptych in the 15th century apse and the Black Christ of Miracles (enclosed in a glass niche in the Italian altar to the right of the choir) which would have so impressed the Turks in 1555 that they raised the city's s seat. To the left of the altar is the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, decorated with a marble altar. On either side of the altarpiece are two twisted columns of black marble.

Sainte-Marie-Majeure Church
In baroque style, it is painted in pink and beige and is located in the Lower Town, its square opening onto rue Clemenceau. According to a hagiographical legend, several Christians were martyred there on the orders of the Emperor Diocletian. Among the victims was Restituta, a rich Roman patrician who, after living in Libya, had taken refuge in Calvi. Pyrrhus, the prefect of Corsica and Sardinia, had him arrested, tried and tortured for a long time before having him beheaded on 21 May 304. The patron saint of Balagne, her ashes now lie in the chapel of Sainte-Restitude in Calenzana, where her sarcophagus made of Carrara marble was discovered in 1951.