| Viewed from across the bay, ST-FLORENT (San Fiurenzu) appears as a bright line against the black tidal wave of the Tenda hills, the pale stone houses seeming to rise straight out of the sea, overlooked by a squat circular citadelle. It's a relaxing town, with a decent beach and a good number of restaurants, but the key to its success is the marina, which is jammed with expensive boats throughout the summer. Neither the tourists, however, nor indeed St-Florent's proximity to Bastia, entirely eclipse the air of isolation conferred on the town by its brooding backdrop of mountains and scrubby desert. In Roman times, a town called Cersunam – referred to as Nebbium by chroniclers from the ninth century onwards – existed a kilometre east of the present village. Few traces remain of the settlement, and in the fifteenth century it was eclipsed by the port that developed around the new Genoese citadelle. St-Florent, as it became known, prospered as one of Genoa's strongholds, and it was from here that Paoli set off for London in 1796, never to return. Place des Portes, the centre of town life, has café tables facing the sea in the shade of plane trees, and in the evening fills with strollers and pétanque players. In rue du Centre, which runs west off the square, parallel to the seafront and marina, you'll find some restaurants, a few shops and a couple of wine-tasting places – be sure to sample the sweet, maquis-scented Muscat made around here. The fifteenth-century circular citadelle can be reached on foot from place Doria at the seafront in the old quarter. Destroyed by Nelson's bombardment in 1794, it has been renovated and affords superb views from its terrace. Just a kilometre to the east of the town off a small road running off place des Portes, on the original site of Cersanum, the church of Santa Maria Assunta – the so-called cathedral of the Nebbio – is a fine example of Pisan Romanesque architecture. Built of warm yellow limestone, the cathedral has a distinctly barn-like appearance – albeit a superlatively elegant one. Gracefully symmetrical blind arcades decorate the western facade, and at the entrance twisting serpents and wild animals adorn the pilasters on each side of the door. The interior, too, appears deceptively simple. Carved shells, foliage and animals adorn the capitals of the pillars dividing the nave where, immediately to the right, you'll see a glass case containing the mummified figure of St Flor, a Roman soldier martyred in the third century.
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