Bastia Citadel street.

© John Elk III / Getty Images

Terra Nova

Top choice in Bastia


Looming above the harbour, Bastia’s stern-walled citadel was built between the 15th and 17th centuries for the city’s Genoese masters. Known as the Terra Nova, despite looking much older than the lower town, it’s largely residential and uncommercialised. The amber-hued Palais des Gouverneurs now houses the Musée de Bastia, while the majestic Cathédrale Ste-Marie and the rococo Église Ste-Croix, home to a mysterious black-oak crucifix found in the sea in 1428, stand side by side a few streets south.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Bastia attractions

1. Église Ste-Croix

0.04 MILES

Adjoining and slightly predating the Cathédrale Ste-Marie, the rococo Église Ste-Croix features gilded ceilings and a mysterious black-oak crucifix, said…

2. Cathédrale Ste-Marie

0.04 MILES

Dating from the early 17th century, Bastia's richly ornate cathedral stands in the heart of the citadel. Seven caps hang over the choir, each belonging to…

3. Musée de Bastia

0.06 MILES

Occupying the former palace of Bastia’s Genoese governors, set into the formidable walls of the citadel, this museum retraces the city’s history from its…

4. Jardin Romieu

0.08 MILES

Climbing the hillside below the mighty walls of the citadel, and threaded through by interlacing paths and stairways, this wooded park makes a scenic…

5. Vieux Port

0.22 MILES

Bastia’s Vieux Port is ringed by precariously tall, pastel-coloured tenements and buzzy brasseries, and overlooked by the twin-towered Église St-Jean…

6. Église St-Jean Baptiste

0.28 MILES

The dramatic twin-towered church of John the Baptist soars majestically above the Vieux Port waterfront. Viewed from the citadel above, it’s the most…

7. Chapelle de l’Immaculée Conception

0.32 MILES

Notable for its elaborately painted barrel-vaulted ceiling, the baroque Chapelle de l’Immaculée Conception served in 1795 as the seat of the short-lived…

8. Terra Vecchia

0.33 MILES

Criss-crossed by narrow lanes, Terra Vecchia is Bastia’s heart and soul. Shady place de l’Hôtel de Ville hosts a lively morning market on Saturday and…