Calvi and the Balagne: The Citadel and Pigna
Corsica, France
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300
XP
+100 France
= 400 total
1 day
Calvi and the Balagne: The Citadel and Pigna
300 + 100 XP
Calvi's Genoese citadel stands at the water's edge above a long sandy bay, and the town has signposted a claim that Christopher Columbus was born inside it — a claim historians reject, placing his birth in Liguria near Genoa. The Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Serra looks back over both gulfs from a promontory 3 km south-west of the town, and inland in the Balagne the village of Pigna rebuilt itself around its craftsmen and its music from the 1960s on.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Go up through the citadel's single gate, once defended by a ditch, drawbridge and portcullis, and find the stone over it cut CIVITAS CALVI SEMPER FIDELIS, then follow the tourist office's marked route round the Haute-Ville to the oratory of Saint-Antoine, the Poudrière, the Sampiero barracks that were the governors' palace, and the house where Laurent Giubegga put up Napoleon in 1793
2
of 4
Walk the plage de La Pinède east from the marina under the pines, and from the sand pick out the two ends of the gulf — the ruined Genoese tower on the Punta Caldanu to the east, and to the west the Punta San Francescu with the Revellata lighthouse flashing beyond it on its peninsula
3
of 4
Take the chemin Notre-Dame de la Serra 3 km south-west and about 200 m up to the chapel, rebuilt between 1850 and 1860 on what the 1794 siege of Calvi left of the 1479 building, find the wall inside covered in ex-votos left by Balagne fishermen, and look up at the marble Virgin — a replacement carved line for line after lightning destroyed the 1935 statue in September 2022, and set in place on 7 September 2023
4
of 4
Park below Pigna and walk up its stepped lanes to find the working trades one by one — the potter, the engraver, the luthier and the flute-maker — then the raw-earth auditorium built between 1998 and 2000 to Hassan Fathy's principles for 110 listeners, and A Vaccaghja, the old cattle pen turned into a 220-seat open-air auditorium; the village that produced the 1890 book written to demolish Calvi's Columbus claim is 11 km from the stele that asserts it
Go up through the citadel's single gate, once defended by a ditch, drawbridge and portcullis, and find the stone over it cut CIVITAS CALVI SEMPER FIDELIS, then follow the tourist office's marked route round the Haute-Ville to the oratory of Saint-Antoine, the Poudrière, the Sampiero barracks that were the governors' palace, and the house where Laurent Giubegga put up Napoleon in 1793
Walk the plage de La Pinède east from the marina under the pines, and from the sand pick out the two ends of the gulf — the ruined Genoese tower on the Punta Caldanu to the east, and to the west the Punta San Francescu with the Revellata lighthouse flashing beyond it on its peninsula
Take the chemin Notre-Dame de la Serra 3 km south-west and about 200 m up to the chapel, rebuilt between 1850 and 1860 on what the 1794 siege of Calvi left of the 1479 building, find the wall inside covered in ex-votos left by Balagne fishermen, and look up at the marble Virgin — a replacement carved line for line after lightning destroyed the 1935 statue in September 2022, and set in place on 7 September 2023
Park below Pigna and walk up its stepped lanes to find the working trades one by one — the potter, the engraver, the luthier and the flute-maker — then the raw-earth auditorium built between 1998 and 2000 to Hassan Fathy's principles for 110 listeners, and A Vaccaghja, the old cattle pen turned into a 220-seat open-air auditorium; the village that produced the 1890 book written to demolish Calvi's Columbus claim is 11 km from the stele that asserts it
Before you go
Pigna is a stepped hill village closed to traffic: park below and walk up, and note that individual workshops keep their own hours - the Céramique de Pigna atelier, for instance, takes visitors outside the summer season. The Notre-Dame de la Serra approach is a narrow, steep lane with nowhere to turn a long vehicle; walk or take a car. The chapel is closed to visitors during the Marian pilgrimage in early September. Everything here depends on the Calvi ferry: book vehicle crossings well ahead in July and August.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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