Ajaccio: Napoleon's Birthplace and the Blood-Red Islands
Corsica, France
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Maison Bonaparte
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250
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+100 France
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1 day
Ajaccio: Napoleon's Birthplace and the Blood-Red Islands
250 + 100 XP
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio on 15 August 1769, in the family house that his father Carlo could finally start working on in 1773, once a lawsuit over the ground-floor flat was settled. In May 1793 Paoli, declared a traitor to the French Republic, turned on his opponents and above all on the Bonapartes: Letizia left in a hurry for Marseille, the house and the family's property were looted, and the British who followed used it as a forage store, an arms depot and quarters for their officers. It has been a national museum since 1967. A few streets away, the Palais Fesch holds what fr.wikipedia calls one of the most remarkable collections of old master painting in France, founded on the bequest of Cardinal Joseph Fesch, Napoleon's uncle, who owned 17,767 works and art objects when he died. At the mouth of the gulf lie the Sanguinaires, four islets of dark red porphyry with a lighthouse of 1870 on the highest of them.
Required Activities
1
of 5
In the Maison Bonaparte find the long gallery Joseph had built on the terrace in 1797, the finest reception room in Ajaccio in its day and used for balls and banquets, and the four commodes and the secretaire that Cardinal Fesch sent his half-sister from Milan in December 1797 — then find the terrace itself, built in 1774 outside young Napoleone's bedroom, with the little study hut his father put up in 1775 so the boy could work undisturbed
2
of 5
Work up through the Palais Fesch, 27 rooms on four floors with about 400 paintings hung, and find the Italian rooms: with 448 Italian pictures, 431 of them the cardinal's, this is the second-biggest holding of Italian painting in France after the Louvre
3
of 5
Walk out to the Genoese tower on the Pointe de la Parata, 12 m of masonry on a headland 55 m above the sea, built in 1550-51 by the Genoese mason Giacomo Lombardo with two vaulted rooms one above the other — and from there watch the sun go down behind the lighthouse of 1870, standing 80 m up on the summit of the Grande Sanguinaire
4
of 5
Go into the chapelle impériale beside the Palais Fesch, built 1857 to 1859 and consecrated on 9 September 1860 with Napoléon III and Eugénie standing in it, and find the tombs of Cardinal Fesch and of Letizia Ramolino, the mother who left this town in a hurry in 1793 — then the bronze of the cardinal himself, put up in the courtyard in 1856
5
of 5
From the Parata, name the chain out to sea in order: I Porri first, called after the wild leeks that grow on it, then the bare rock of U Sbiru, the Isolotto of the cormorants, Cala d'Alga, and Mezu Mare at the far end marking the mouth of the gulf
In the Maison Bonaparte find the long gallery Joseph had built on the terrace in 1797, the finest reception room in Ajaccio in its day and used for balls and banquets, and the four commodes and the secretaire that Cardinal Fesch sent his half-sister from Milan in December 1797 — then find the terrace itself, built in 1774 outside young Napoleone's bedroom, with the little study hut his father put up in 1775 so the boy could work undisturbed
Work up through the Palais Fesch, 27 rooms on four floors with about 400 paintings hung, and find the Italian rooms: with 448 Italian pictures, 431 of them the cardinal's, this is the second-biggest holding of Italian painting in France after the Louvre
Walk out to the Genoese tower on the Pointe de la Parata, 12 m of masonry on a headland 55 m above the sea, built in 1550-51 by the Genoese mason Giacomo Lombardo with two vaulted rooms one above the other — and from there watch the sun go down behind the lighthouse of 1870, standing 80 m up on the summit of the Grande Sanguinaire
Go into the chapelle impériale beside the Palais Fesch, built 1857 to 1859 and consecrated on 9 September 1860 with Napoléon III and Eugénie standing in it, and find the tombs of Cardinal Fesch and of Letizia Ramolino, the mother who left this town in a hurry in 1793 — then the bronze of the cardinal himself, put up in the courtyard in 1856
From the Parata, name the chain out to sea in order: I Porri first, called after the wild leeks that grow on it, then the bare rock of U Sbiru, the Isolotto of the cormorants, Cala d'Alga, and Mezu Mare at the far end marking the mouth of the gulf
Before you go
The Maison Bonaparte is closed every Monday of the year and on 25 December, and from October to March it shuts for lunch — 10.30 to 12.30 and 13.15 to 16.30 — so a winter afternoon arrival leaves very little time. From July to September it runs straight through, 10.00 to 17.30. Check the Palais Fesch's own day off before you go (04 95 26 26 26). Ajaccio's old streets are no place for a motorhome: use the port car parks and walk.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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