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- Originally a poor fishing village called Marina di Cardo, in 1383 it changed its name after a Genoese keep, or bastiglia, was constructed there. Bastia was the capital of Corsica until 1791 and still is the military headquarters of the island.
www.britannica.com/place/Bastia
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Bastia and the whole island came under French military domination on 8 May 1769. In 1794, during a war with Revolutionary France, British troops under Admiral Nelson and Lieutenant-General David Dundas briefly captured Bastia. In 1848, Bastia took 44 hectares from Ville-di-Pietrabugno.
Bastia is a commercial port town (the most important on Corsica) found to the north-east of the island. It is in an impressive location with the hills and Cap Corse behind the town. The town is now officially classified as a 'Town of Art and History' in France.
Bastia was the capital of Corsica until 1791 and still is the military headquarters of the island. The old town (Terra Vecchia) is built in and around the central part of the harbour. The upper town (Terra Nuova) lies to the south, the modern town to the north and west.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Bastia was founded in 1378 when the Genoese governor Leonello Lomellini left Biguglia Castle to settle in a stronghold in Bastia. This site dominated a fisherman’s navy that was then called Porto cardo (the current Old Port).
Bastia sits between the Med and the scrubby green slopes of the Serra di Pignu, 20 miles from Corsica’s northern tip, and still feels like the Italian city it was from medieval times, when island rule was dictated by Pisa, later Genoa.
As with many Corsican towns, the history of Bastia starts with the Genoese who controlled the island from the 14th century, although later centuries have also left their mark - in particular from the baroque era to the 19th century when a great deal of development took place in the town.
Founded in 1378 by the Genoese, who made it the capital of the island, its name comes from the "bastille" (fortress) which overlooks the city. Bastia is a lively town, an impression that is intensified as you stroll through Place Saint Nicolas, a popular meeting-place for locals, or the Place du Marché, which is always colourful and bustling.
