Calvi is a commune and a small town in France located in the
north of Corsica. Calvi is one of the most beautiful seaside resorts
located on the north west coast of Haute-Corse in the micro-region
of Balagne.
Calvi is famous for its enchanting setting, its
historic Citadel, its marina, its lake (organization of races for
the world trimaran championship), its bay and its fine sandy beach
of several kilometers, its hinterland , its typical Corsican
villages and its mountains over 2000 meters.
Citadel Logo indicating a link to the element wikidata - built
from 1483 to 1492, dominates the city and the bay with its ramparts.
Former Saint-Jean-Baptiste cathedral
The Saint-Jean-Baptiste
pro-cathedral is a former Roman Catholic cathedral located in Calvi
in the Haute-Corse department. It was the seat of the diocese of
Sagone between 1576 and 1802, the date of its abolition and its
attachment to the diocese of Ajaccio.
Located in the citadel
and originally built in the 13th century, the church was rebuilt in
1570, after partial destruction, in a classic Baroque style. It
became pro-cathedral in 1576 thanks to Pope Gregory XIII, when the
bishops of Sagone established their residence there.
It is
from the Saint-Jean-Baptiste cathedral that all the Calvaise Holy
Week processions start. On Holy Wednesday Our Lady of the Rosary is
dressed in her blue robe and on Good Friday in her black robe. On
Easter Day, she takes on her rich brocade dress. As for the Christ
of Miracles, it is only in the event of calamity that he is solemnly
carried in procession. The religious building has been classified as
a historical monument since August 10, 1920.
The
Saint-Jean-Baptiste cathedral in Calvi is in the “Corsican baroque”
style. Somewhat transformed into a fort, the church only presents
its south-eastern part and its western facade. This is only pierced
by a single portal.
The church is designed in the form of a
Greek cross, the nave extended to the east by the choir where the
high altar sits; the main nave, flanked by two aisles, and the choir
are separated by a balustrade. Two secondary altars frame it in side
chapels. The chapel on the right is dedicated to the Black Christ of
Miracles, and the one on the left to Our Lady of the Rosary.
It has a round dome, with a circular base, surmounted by a
cylindrical lantern reinforced by four contiguous creeping volutes,
pierced between each volute of four small rectangular windows which
provide a soft light on the interior decorations. The cover of the
dome and its large lantern is made of glazed tortoiseshell tiles.
The bay with its white sand beach and pine forest. Without
doubt one of the most beautiful bays of the Isle of Beauty.
The
Lower Town with the rue Clemenceau and its cobblestones dating from
the Genoese era, the Quai Landry with its palm trees, its colorful
bar terraces, the sea and the mountains as a backdrop.
The Notre
Dame de la Serra chapel offers a magnificent view over the entire
gulf.
The lighthouse on the Revelatta peninsula shows another
aspect of the sea with its granite cliffs plunging into the
Mediterranean.
For lovers of scuba diving: at the foot of the
citadel of Calvi at a depth of 26 meters lies a B17 of the American
army following a crash in 1944.
Calvi is 95 km from Bastia and 24 km from L'Île-Rousse on the Gulf of
Calvi.
The city consists of the Lower Town, which houses the Town
Hall, the Market Square and the important marina, and the Upper Town,
which is dominated by the Governor's Palace and the Citadel.
There are seven ports in Corsica served by transport ships or ferries
from the French (Marseille, Toulon, Nice) or Italian (Savona, Genoa, La
Spezia, Livorno, Piombino) coasts, as well as from Sardinia (Santa
Teresa di Gallura, Porto Torres, Palau ) are approached. These are
L'Île-Rousse, Calvi, Propriano, Ajaccio, Bonifacio, Bastia and
Porto-Vecchio. The ferry service in Calvi has now been discontinued.
Antiquity
Hardly anything is known about an early historical
settlement, but Phoenicians, Greeks and Etruscans already had
settlements in the area of today's Calvi. The Romans built a settlement
called Sinus Caesiae (possibly also Sinus Casalus) in the area of the
lower town, from which the current name Calvi is said to derive; another
source refers to the place name of Calvi on the Latin word "calvus",
which means "bare" and insofar as the naming goes back to the originally
unvegetated and uninhabited bare rock, on which a citadel was later
built.
Middle Ages
After Saracen raids, Pisa, to which Corsica
was granted by the Pope, occupied the city in the 11th century. Disputes
between Pisa and the Republic of Genoa over ownership of the island were
followed by a turbulent period of alternating rule between Corsican
nobles, Genoa and the Crown of Aragon. In 1278 the inhabitants of Calvi
Genoa asked for support against the local nobles. Thus, Calvi fell under
the sphere of influence of Genoa, which expanded the citadel of Calvi
(and also that of Algajola), granting Calvi an autonomous status and
granting a series of privileges to the Calvesians. The inhabitants
thanked Genoa with loyalty, even during the independence struggles. You
can still see the Latin motto Civitas Calvi semper fidelis (“The city of
Calvi is always faithful”) at the entrance to the upper town.
mMdern times
In the 16th century, Calvi resisted attempts by the
Corsican freedom fighter Sampiero Corso and his allies, the Turks and
the French.
In the 18th century there was a brief period of
Corsican independence under Pascal Paoli, which ended when France took
power. When Paoli tried to bring Corsica back under his influence with
the support of the Kingdom of Great Britain, Calvi was largely destroyed
by the British fleet in 1793.
After the loss of French
territories in North Africa, the 2e régiment étranger de parachutistes,
a paratrooper regiment of the Foreign Legion, was stationed in Calvi in
1967.
Since the 1960s, the town has been a well-known tourist spot and the most visited place on the island. Today, more than half of the inhabitants live from tourism. Wine is grown in the southern half of the municipality.
Calvi Airport (Aéroport Sainte Catherine) is 7 km south-east of the
city centre. Numerous charter flights are also offered from Germany and
Austria, as well as low-cost flights from TUIfly.
Calvi train
station is the end and starting point of the Ponte-Leccia-Calvi railway
line. Although operationally it is a terminal station, the entrance
building was built on its side. The reason for this was to keep open the
possibility of extending the line in the direction of Porto, but this
never came about.
It is said that the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus, was born in the citadel. Calvi belonged to the Maritime Republic of Genoa for centuries and even resisted the independence of Corsica for a long time. The rumor that Christopher Columbus came from Corsica also dates from this period – after all, Calvi, along with numerous other cities in Italy, Spain and Portugal, claims the privilege of being the birthplace of the famous explorer of America.