Calvi
| Calvi | ||
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| region | Corsica | |
| Department | Upper Corsica | |
| Arrondissement | Calvi | |
| Canton | Calvi (main town) | |
| Community association | Calvi Balagne | |
| Coordinates | 42 ° 34 ′ N , 8 ° 45 ′ E | |
| height | 0-700 m | |
| surface | 31.20 km 2 | |
| Residents | 5,559 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 178 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 20260 | |
| INSEE code | 2B050 | |
| Website | http://www.villedecalvi.fr/ | |
 View from Notre Dame de La Serra to Calvi |
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Calvi is a French port city on the northwest coast of Corsica and the capital of the Balagne countryside . With 5559 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) it is the fifth largest municipality in Corsica.
geography
Calvi is 95 km from Bastia and 24 km from L'Île-Rousse on the Gulf of Calvi .
The town consists of the lower town , where the town hall , the marketplace and the major yacht harbor lie, and the upper town , by the Governor's Palace and the Citadel dominates.
There are seven ports in Corsica that can be used by transport ships or ferries from the French ( Marseille , Toulon , Nice ) or Italian ( Savona , Genoa , La Spezia , Livorno , Piombino ) coasts as well as from Sardinia ( Santa Teresa di Gallura , Porto Torres , Palau ) are approached. These are L'Île-Rousse, Calvi, Propriano , Ajaccio , Bonifacio , Bastia and Porto-Vecchio . The ferry service in Calvi has now ceased.
history
Antiquity
Little is known about an early historical settlement, but Phoenicians , Greeks and Etruscans already had settlements in the area of today's Calvi. The Romans built a settlement called Sinus Caesiae (possibly also Sinus Casalus ) in the area of the lower town , from which the current name Calvi is supposed to be derived.
middle Ages
After the Saracen raids , Pisa , to which Corsica was awarded by the Pope , occupied the city in the 11th century. After disputes between Pisa and the Republic of Genoa over ownership of the island, a turbulent period followed, with alternating rule between the Corsican nobles, Genoa and the Crown of Aragon . In 1278 the inhabitants of Calvi asked Genoa for support against the local nobles. So Calvi fell under the influence of Genoa, which expanded the citadel of Calvi (and also that of Algajola ), gave Calvi an autonomous status and a number of privileges to the Calvesians. The residents thanked Genoa faithfully, even during the independence struggle. You can still see the Latin motto Civitas Calvi semper fidelis (“The city of Calvi is always loyal”) at the entrance to the upper town .
Modern times
In the 16th century, Calvi resisted attempts at conquest by the Corsican freedom fighter Sampiero Corso and his allies, the Turks and French.
In the 18th century there was a short period of Corsican independence under Pascal Paoli , which ended when France came to power. When Paolis tried to bring Corsica back under his influence with the support of the Kingdom of Great Britain , Calvi was largely destroyed by the British fleet in 1793.
After the loss of the French territories in North Africa, the 2e régiment étranger de parachutistes , a paratrooper regiment of the Foreign Legion , was stationed in Calvi in 1967 .
Population development
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2009 | 2017 |
| Residents | 2258 | 2767 | 3530 | 3579 | 4815 | 5177 | 5377 | 5559 |
| Sources: Cassini and INSEE | ||||||||
Culture and sights
- Harbor promenade with a lot of flair
- Genoese citadel (15th century)
Harbor promenade with citadel
Fresco from 1513 in the Oratoire Saint-Antoine
The foundation walls of the alleged birthplace of Christopher Columbus
Monuments
War Victims Memorial
Monument to a water carrier
Monument to the 1st Batalion de Choc
Economy and Infrastructure
The city has been a well-known tourist destination and most visited place on the island since the 1960s. Today more than half of the population lives from tourism . Wine is grown in the southern half of the municipality.
traffic
- Calvi Airport ( Aéroport Sainte Catherine ), 7 km southeast of Calvi train station. Numerous charter flights from Germany and Austria as well as cheap flights from TUIfly.
- Corsican railway (narrow-gauge railway) to Ajaccio or Bastia via Ponte Leccia .
Personalities
In the citadel which was supposedly America - discoverer Christopher Columbus was born. Calvi belonged to the Maritime Republic of Genoa for centuries and even fought against the independence of Corsica for a long time. The rumor that Christopher Columbus came from Corsica also dates from this time - after all, Calvi, along with numerous other cities in Italy, Spain and Portugal, claims the privilege of being the birthplace of the famous American explorer.
literature
- Marco Polo Guide Corsica, 6th edition, Ostfildern 2000.
- Dorling Kindersley Vis-à-vis: Corsica.
