The old town of Corte — the Haute Ville — climbs steeply up from the main square in a warren of narrow lanes, tall Genoese-style houses, and stone stairways. It has more life than many Corsican old towns: a mix of students, year-round residents, and the kind of bars and restaurants that cater to people who actually live there rather than just passing tourists.
The Place Gaffori is the heart of it, with a statue of Ghjuvan Petru Gaffori — a hero of the independence movement — at its center. The houses around the square are pocked with musket-ball holes from a Genoese siege in 1750, preserved deliberately as a reminder of what the town went through. From the square, steep lanes lead up to the citadel and out in other directions through the residential parts of the Haute Ville. Get lost for an hour. It is small enough that you will always find your way back.