Ajaccio - St. Erasme

Ajaccio was a seat of a diocese, mentioned by Pope Gregory the Great in 591. Excavations proved the existence of a baptistry and a cathedral from the 6th century, but not much is known about the early medieval times. The settlement did not prosper and shrunk down until the Genoese, eager to assert their dominance in the south of the island, decided to refound and rebuild the city of Ajaccio in 1492.
Although at first populated exclusively by the Genoese, the city slowly opened to the Corsicans. Ajaccio was occupied from 1553 to 1559 by the French but fell again to the Genoese later.

Genoa was strong enough to keep Corsica until 1755, the year Pasquale Paoli proclaimed the Corsican Republic. Paoli took most of the island for the republic but he was unable to force Genoese troops out of the citadels at the coast, Ajaccio was one of them.

French troops entered Corsica in 1768 and in 1780 the island was was formally annexed to France in 1780.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio (as Nabulione Buonaparte) in 1769. His father had been the secretary to Pasquale Paoli during the Corsican Republic. His father was offered an appointment for his son to the Military College of Brienne, but the child had to be under 10. This is where the dispute about Napoleon´s age starts, as the records at Ajaccio have been altered and it may well be, that Napoleon was born in Corte in 1768. Anyway, he went to Brienne from 1779–1784 and started his career.

The church was erected in 1622 by Jesuits and dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola. After the Jesuits had to move out the church got dedicated to St. Erasmus, who is the patron of seamen. Since then the church is as well known as " L'église des marins".

I knew, that inside are many ex-votos in form of "church ships", but as people were preparing for a funeral, I was not allowed in so I could only take two photos, before they had pushed me out - and locked the doors. This is one of them.