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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The citadel of Bastia, called A Citatella in Corsica, was founded in the 14th century by the Genoese after the fire of Biguglia Castle. In 1380, Governor Leonello Lomellini erected a first fort, Castello della Bastia, on a promontory overlooking two ports: Portu Cardu (now Old Port) and Portu Vechju (Ficaghjola Cove). This strategic site became the nucleus of the future Terra Nova, opposed to Terra Vechja (Old Port). The tower of Fortino, now extinct, even inspired the coat of arms of the city.

In the 15th century, the podestà Antonio Tagliacarne had about twenty houses built around the fort, forming the first streets (now Notre Dame Street and Paroisse Street). The citadel extended with ramparts, a governors' palace (completed in the 16th century), and bastions rebuilt between 1575 and 1626. A symbol of Genoese power, the palace also housed a court and a prison. The monumental gate, known as Porte Louis XVI (1775), and the ramparts have been listed as historical monuments since 1935 and 2023.

The citadel houses two classified religious buildings: St. Mary's Cathedral (baroque, 17th–15th centuries), former church of Santa Maria the Arrimbata, and St. Croix Oratory (XVI century), famous for its miraculous black Christ. The Palace of Governors, transformed into a barracks under Napoleon, now houses the Museum of Corsican Ethnography. The bastions (San Giovanni, San Carlo, etc.) and the underground tanks, such as that of the Chjappa (accessible since 2020), recall Genoese military engineering.

The streets of the citadel, with bilingual names (e.g. Strada Dritta for Notre Dame Street), reflect her genoese heritage. Piazza di Corte (place du Donjon) was the administrative heart, surrounded by the Casetta (former town hall), the Palace of the Twelve Nobles (an 18th-century Corsican institution), and the Zerbi House (former vicariate). Elements such as the gallows on the ramparts or the convent Sainte-Claire, which became a prison, testify to its judicial and prison role.

In the 18th century, after the fall of Genoa, the French renamed places (ex. Donjon for the governors' palace) and militarized the site. Today, the citadel combines architectural heritage (façades classified in 1977), museum and urban, with a signpost that rehabilitates Corsican names. Its ramparts, partially privatized, offer views of the Old Port and the sea, recalling its origin as a commercial and defensive stronghold.

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