Civitas Calvi Semper Fidelis

Ptolomy wrote in the II century that Cæsiæ littus was Corsica's most famous city.  In the VIII century, however, it was destroyed by a Moor raid.  The city was re-built as Calvi by a local warlord in 1276 and it pledged allegiance to the Republic of Genoa in 1278.

And with Genoa the Calvesi stayed through thick and thin, for five centuries.  Even as other parts of Corsica were at times held by Pisa, Aragon, the Pope, France, or the Turk, Calvi resolutely stayed Genoese.  In fact, Calvi was the last Corsican city to yield to the French invasion of 1769 that consolidated Corsica a part of France.

It is because of that long association that from 1421 the city's motto is Forever Loyal City of Calvi.

Calvi from Peregrinus at anchor in the Golfe de Calvi.  3 August 2016, iPhone 6 Plus.

The walls of Corsica

It was in Saint-Florent that we first realized that in Corsica, traditionally, walls often went unpainted.

With these sort of sunsets, who needs paint?  Click for more photos.

Of races and islands

Many famous sailboat races are run from an accessible harbor to some offshore, isolated island.

 Take, for instance, the Fastnet Race, run since 1925 every two years: from Cowes, racers travel west almost 300 miles to Fastnet Rock, round it, and then back east to Plymouth.  Peregrinus sailed by Fastnet in 2015.

Another well-known race is the Giraglia Cup, an annual event since 1953.  The route, from Saint-Tropez (originally from Toulon), around Giraglia island, to Genoa.  Giraglia island sits one mile offshore Cap Corse, at the very top of Corsica.  

On July 31st, Peregrinus passed Giraglia, with its famous Genoese watchtower (built 1585), on its way west to Saint-Florent. Click for another picture.

Sentinel

The Republic of Genoa built the watchtower of Santa Maria di a Chjapella in 1549, and about 100 nearly identical others, in the north coast of Corsica, so that the people could be alerted of Saracen attacks originating from the Barbary Coast.  When the alarm rang, the Corsicans ran up to hideouts in the mountains.  Those who couldn't escape on time were destined for the slave markets of Tripoli or Istanbul.

Peregrinus at anchor to the left of the watchtower.  Rade de Santa Maria, between Punta Vecchia and the Finocchiarola Islands, in the north of Corsica.  iPhone 6 Plus, 30 July 2016.

Capraia

A colony of the Republic of Pisa from the year 962, the island of Capraia lies in the Ligurian Sea, midway between Tuscany and Corsica.  It was conquered by the Mohammedans in 1055; the Pisans took it back a generation later and held it until it became a possession of the Republic of Genoa, following the events of 1284.

In 1540, the Moslems, this time under Turgut Reis, again captured and sacked Capraia.  To prevent further devastation, the Genoese built in 1541 the fortifications that still stand, and from one of these, the Torre del Porto, we took this picture, with Peregrinus at anchor, in the foreground.

We asked a fisherman who is the diver that cleans his boat's propeller, and the following day his diver came by and cleaned all of Peregrinus' bottom.  29 July 2016.