Ajaccio is the capital of Corsica and, to most visitors, synonymous with one name: Napoleon Bonaparte was born here in 1769, one year after France acquired the island from Genoa. The connection is everywhere — in the street names, in the museums, in the slightly self-satisfied air of a city that knows it produced someone important. But Ajaccio is more than a Napoleon pilgrimage. It is a genuinely pleasant Mediterranean port town with a handsome old quarter, good seafood, and the spectacular Gulf of Ajaccio at its feet.
The old town, the Borgo, spreads between the port and the citadel. Its narrow lanes hold the house where Napoleon was born, the cathedral where he was baptised, and the covered market where locals buy charcuterie and brocciu cheese on Saturday mornings. The Fesch Museum, housed in a palace built by Napoleon's uncle Cardinal Joseph Fesch, holds the largest collection of Italian paintings in France outside the Louvre — which surprises most visitors who came only for the Bonaparte connection.
The port is lively and photogenic. Ferries arrive from Nice, Marseille, and Toulon; fishing boats unload each morning; the waterfront promenade fills up in the evenings. Head south along the coast towards the Îles Sanguinaires — four granite islands at the mouth of the gulf that turn red at sunset — for one of the better views in western Corsica.
Ajaccio makes a good base for the southern half of the island. The Cinarca valley vineyards, the prehistoric standing stones at Filitosa, and the beaches of the Gulf of Valinco are all within an hour's drive.