Hotels Bastia, France - Hotel Booking

Visit Bastia

The Governors’ Palace was built onto a tower, itself built in 1380 by a Genoese noble, Leonello Lomellino. The tower - la bastia – which gave its name to the town was strategically situated on the promontory overlooking the bay of Porto Cardo (the Vieux Port of Bastia today) and was very soon transformed into a castello, a bigger defensive structure than a simple watch tower. The château became the permanent residence of the Governors of Genoa in Corsica at the end of the 15th century, although the date of 1453 is traditionally considered as the date of installation.

The Romieu gardens were created in 1870 as a place to walk, but over the years it became less frequented. Conscious of the interest of such a park, the town of Bastia wished to change it so that people would once again be attracted to walk in it. It was meant to provide the link between the restored Citadel and the renovated Old Port.

The old Port of Bastia. This is the historic heart of the city. At the foot of the Citadel is the fishing and sailing port of Bastia. For an overall view, you have to go to the Dragon jetty built in the 19th century. From there, when the visibility is good (often when the "Libecciu" is blowing) you can see the Tuscan Islands: Elba, Capraia and Monte Cristo.

Chapelle Notre Dame de Monserato. This chapel is also called the Chapel of the Holy Stairs (Scala Santa). In 1811, 424 Roman priests who refused to pledge allegiance to the Emperor Napoleon I were exiled to Corsica. The priests were well received by the Bastia population who treated them with the greatest respect.

La Place Saint Nicolas. Considered as one of the largest squares in France (300 m long and 90 m wide), it takes its name from a chapel built in the 11th century and destroyed when the esplanade was extended in the 19th century.

The Theatre. In 1874, the construction of a new theatre began, to replace the theatre on the market-place which dated from the 18th century and had been destroyed by fire. The work was undertaken by the Italian architect Andrea Scala who had designed the theatre of Pisa.
It was opened in 1879 and in the Belle Epoque (the Edwardian period) it was highly esteemed by the reputedly demanding audiences of Bastia. The trial of the bandit Spada took place here in 1935. Seriously damaged by bombing in 1943, the restoration was completed in 1980.

The Church of Saint John the Baptist, of imposing proportions, was built as we see it today between 1636 and 1666 on the site of an old chapel. Neo-classic in style, it is the largest church in Corsica. The towers on the façade were added later. The one on the left was built in 1813 by a Swiss master mason, Tomaso Quadri, and the one on the right in 1864 by an architect from Bastia, Paul Augustin Viale.

The Church of Saint Charles-Borromée is one of the rare churches in Christendom that does not offer the right of sanctuary: this condition was imposed by the Genoese before authorising its construction. Its imposing baroque façade looks down on a superb flight of steps. Inside, the white walls and pilasters make the nave seem even larger than it is. Only the superb altarpiece of the high altar is richly decorated. The painting of the Virgin of Lavasina (celebrated on the 8 September) is set in an iconic-style gilded wooden glory.

The Brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception was instituted in Bastia in 1588, and its chapel was completed to its present size by 1609. The white marble facing which covers the façade was done in 1859, the work of Italian masons established in Bastia (Giuseppe Lucciani, Giuseppe Bertolucci and Camillo Perutelli). In the centre, the great baroque entrance in Carrare marble is older, dating from 1704.

TO DO

At the foot of the village of Furiani, just to the south of Bastia, Lake Biguglia was made a nature reserve on the 9th of August 1994. It is a really green lung for the agglomeration of Bastia. The lake has an area of 1450 hectares.