AJACCIO AND AWAY

CORSICA - SEPTEMBER 2010


"ROOM WITH A VIEW AT THE SOFITEL PORTICCIO"


"PORTICCIO & AJACCIO AIRPORT"


"NAPOLEON - He was born in Ajaccio to parents of noble Genoese ancestry on August 15, 1769"


"FAMILY HOUSE - The Bonaparte family home was a large four-storey building, now a museum. All brothers, but Joseph, were born on the first floor of the house"


"THE IMPERIAL CHAPEL - The construction of the Chapel was the result of the last wishes of Cardinal Fesch (Napoleon's uncle): «On the sale of my Great Gallery of paintings, my heirs should take the sum of two hundred thousand francs for the construction of a church in Ajaccio in which should be built my tomb, that of my sister Letizia and that of any of the members of the Bonaparte family who wish to be buried there». In 1857, Napoleon III had the chapel built by Paccard, the official architect of the Imperial regime"


"AJACCIO - Downtown and beach"


"AJACCIO - CATHEDRAL"


"DE GAULLE, FOCH & FESCH..."


"FESCH MUSEUM - The father of Fesch, a Swiss officer, married the mother of Laetitia Bonaparte, after the death of her first husband and thus Fesch fulfilled the role of an uncle to the young Bonapartes. He was one of the most famous art collectors of his period and his collection included almost 16,000 paintings (not all at the same time), the core being Italian works from the Renaissance to the 18th century"


"SOFITEL THALASSA HOTEL PORTICCIO - Facing Ajaccio Bay and the Sanguinaires Islands, with unrestricted views of sky, sea and rocks, the hotel has a small private beach and a large outdoor pool"


"CHAMPAGNE SUNSET"


"GRAN FINALE"


"GOODBYE CORSICA 2010"