En un regard
Le château en bref
The citadel of Ajaccio, a Genoese fortress built from 1492 onwards on the Punta della Leccia, a site chosen because it is surrounded by the sea on three sides, overlooks the town's bay. The first bastion – a square tower of about ten metres, ditches and curtain walls – was completed in 1502, protecting the new quarter of the Corsican families loyal to Genoa, including the Ornano and the Pozzo di Borgo. Occupied and transformed by the French in 1553, it returned to Genoa in 1559; the military engineer Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino then strengthened its defences against the Turkish threat from 1564 onwards, with a system of coastal towers and the first Martello tower. Listed as a historic monument in 1995, it was the subject of a protocol transferring its ownership from the State to the city of Ajaccio, signed on 17 April 2015. Today it houses several cultural institutions, including the Fesch Museum, as well as municipal services.