The military and administrative core of old Bastia, Terra Nova (or the citadelle) has a distinct air of affluence, its lofty apartments now colonized by Bastia's yuppies. The area is focused on place du Donjon, which gets its name from the squat round tower that formed the nucleus of Bastia's fortifications and was used by the Genoese to incarcerate Corsican patriots – Sampiero Corso (the nationalist hero who mounted an insurrection against the Genoese in 1657) was held in the dungeon for four years in the early sixteenth century. Next to the tower, the Bar de la Citadelle commands a magnificent view that extends to Elba on a clear day.Facing the bar is the impressive fourteenth-century Palais des Gouverneurs. With its great round tower, arcaded courtyard and pristine peach-coloured paintwork, this building has a distinctly Moorish feel and was built for the governor and local bishop during the town's Genoese heyday. When the French transferred the capital to Ajaccio it became a prison, then was destroyed during a British attack of 1794 (in which an ambitious young captain named Horatio Nelson played a decisive part). The subsequent rebuilding was not the last, as parts of it were blown up by the Americans in 1943, and today restorers are trying to regain something of the building's former grandeur. Part of the palace is given over to the Musée d'Éthnographie (currently closed for renovation, but scheduled to reopen in 2003; daily: June 9am–6.30pm; July & Aug 9am–8pm; Sept–May 9am–noon & 2–6pm; last entry 45min before closing time; admission around €5), which presents the history of Corsica from prehistoric times to the present day. Its vaulted chambers contain some fascinating historical titbits, including a diminutive Roman sarcophagus decorated with hunting scenes, busts of famous Corsicans and an original 1755 Flag of Independence, with its distinctive Moorish emblem. Back in place du Donjon, if you cross the square and follow rue Notre-Dame you come out at the Église Ste-Marie. Built in 1458 and overhauled in the seventeenth century, it was the cathedral of Bastia until 1801, when the bishopric was transferred to Ajaccio. Inside, the church's principal treasure is a small silver statue of the Virgin (housed in a glass case on the right wall as you face the altar), which is carried through Terra Nova and Terra Vecchia on August 15, the Festival of the Assumption. Immediately behind Ste-Maire in rue de l'Evêché stands the Oratoire Ste-Croix, a sixteenth-century chapel decorated in Louis XV style, with lashings of rich blue paint and gilt scrollwork. It houses another holy item, the Christ des Miracles, a blackened oak crucifix, much venerated by Bastia's fishermen, which in 1428 was discovered floating in the sea surrounded by a luminous haze. A festival celebrating the miracle takes place in Bastia on May 3, when local fishing families carry it around Terra Nova. Beyond the church, the narrow streets open out to the secluded place Guasco, where a few benches offer the chance of a rest before descending back into the fray.
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