Calvi

The Calvi gulf was known in antiquity: the geographer Ptolemy, in the 2nd century, called it the most famous port of the island, and prehistoric remains have been found on the Revellata peninsula and the Serra plateau. The town itself was founded in the 13th century, and in 1278 it joined itself to the Republic of Genoa; in 1483 Genoa's Office of Saint George decided to build new fortifications, and the Tour du Sel was built as a lookout in 1495.

Calvi's motto, "Civitas Calvi semper fidelis" — Calvi always faithful — recalls its loyalty to Genoa. It was besieged in 1553 and again in 1555 by the French and their Ottoman allies, with Corsicans led by Sampiero Corso, and stayed loyal to Genoa. In 1652 Genoa allowed the motto to be carved over the town gate. When Corsica rose against Genoa in the 18th century, Calvi stayed on the Genoese side; in 1758 Pasquale Paoli founded L'Île-Rousse along the coast to give the Corsicans a port of their own.

In 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars, British forces under General Charles Stuart and Captain Horatio Nelson, allied with Paoli, besieged and took the town; Nelson was blinded in one eye during the bombardment. The British left Corsica at the end of 1796. Calvi was an important centre of resistance in the Second World War, and its port was used for the Provence landings in August 1944. Tourism began in 1950, and the Foreign Legion's 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment is based at Camp Raffalli beside the town.

Calvi's religious brotherhoods, of Saint-Érasme and Saint-Antoine, shape its calendar. On Good Friday they lead two processions: a cerca in the morning and, at night, the Granitula, in which hooded, barefoot penitents walk the Way of the Cross from the cathedral down to Sainte-Marie-Majeure, where the brotherhoods spiral on the square singing hymns while thousands of candles burn in the windows. In early June the fishermen's saint, Erasmus, is carried to the harbour and out to sea in memory of lost sailors. The Saint-Antoine brotherhood has spent more than twenty years collecting and reviving its chants and liturgy.

The town claims Christopher Columbus as a native son, a legend based on Calvi's Genoese past, and a house in the citadel is shown as his birthplace. Music has a large place in summer: the Calvi Jazz Festival has run every June since 1987, with concerts at the marina, in the Saint-Antoine oratory, including polyphony, and on the ramparts, and Calvi on the Rocks brings electronic music to the beach in July.

The Foreign Legion parachutists are part of the town's identity, and Calvi's own form of Corsican, mixing Tuscan, Genoese and Balagne influences, is still spoken by a few residents.

The commune had about 5,800 residents in 2023, making Calvi the main town of the Balagne. Beyond the old town, newer flats and shops have grown up along the road into town, with villas in districts such as Pietramaggiore and the airport out on the Figarella plain.

The economy rests on summer tourism. The other mainstay is the Foreign Legion's 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment, whose base at Camp Raffalli and its personnel bring steady business; the military presence has been estimated at between 13 and 20 per cent of the Balagne's economic output. Apart from a spring-water bottling plant at Zilia, the area has almost no industry.

Calvi's commercial port, with a single large quay, has lost most of its traffic, since lorries in the town's only through road caused problems and ferries and cargo ships now use L'Île-Rousse. A market is held at the entrance to the town every other Thursday. In summer the marina terraces and the beach are packed; in winter the town is quiet and many businesses close.

Calvi eats as the rest of Corsica does. The island's charcuterie comes from pigs raised semi-wild in the chestnut and oak woods: lonzu, cured pork fillet; coppa, also called capicollu; prisuttu, a ham; and figatellu, a pork-liver sausage. Brocciu, a fresh cheese made from the whey of sheep's or goat's milk, goes into cannelloni and fiadone, a cheesecake flavoured with citron zest.

Chestnut flour, the island's old staple, is used in pulenda, cakes and fritters, and in Pietra, a chestnut beer. Wild boar has its own recipes, fish soup comes from the coast, and canistrelli are biscuits often flavoured with white wine or aniseed. Shops in the town sell dried meats, honey, olive oil and herbs of the maquis, and restaurants line the marina and the streets parallel to it.

Corsican wines, from areas such as Calvi and Patrimonio, are poured with meals, along with myrtle liqueur and the Cap Corse Mattei aperitif.