Every design for Ajaccio

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio in 1769, and the city has never quite let anyone forget it: the airport carries his name and his ancestral home is now a museum. Yet daily life here is shaped less by an emperor than by the gulf, the sheltered northern shore where the largest town in Corsica stretches between the river Gravona and the Pointe de la Parata.

Maison de Napoléon Bonaparte draws visitors into the old streets, but for the people who live here the Citadelle d'Ajaccio is simply the landmark by the harbour, and the Palais Fesch is where the city keeps its art. Beyond the built-up arc along the coast, most of the commune is wild country: hills, coves, beaches such as the Plage du Ricanto, and the road out towards the îles Sanguinaires. The Genoese rebuilt the town around its citadel in 1492, and the harbour has been its centre ever since.

Anyone who grew up in Ajaccio could draw this map from memory: the curve of the gulf, the citadel pushing into the water, the long road west to the islands at the end of the day.