The city of Bastia is found on the northeastern coast of Corsica

 "Courage isn't having the strength to go on -- it is going on when you don't have strength." -- Napoleon Bonaparte

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(on the French island of Corsica) The city of Bastia is found on the northeastern coast of Corsica, 22 miles (35 km) south of the island’s northernmost point, the tip of Cape Corse. It is close to the Italian mainland, and across the Tyrrhenian Sea can be seen the island of Elba, flanked by Monte Cristo and Capraia. Once a small fishing village called Marina di Cardo, in 1383 it changed its name after a Genoese keep, or bastiglia, was built here. Bastia was the capital of Corsica until 1791 and still is military headquarters of the island. The Old Town (Terra Vecchia) is built in and around the central part of the harbor. The upper town (Terra Nuova) lies to the south, the modern town to the north and west. The Old Town features a network of alleys connected by dark, vaulted passages. The classical facades of the Church of San Giovanni Battista, law court, theater, and the City Hall are floridly decorated. As France’s second busiest passenger port, after Calais, the city of Bastia remains lively all-year-round. The hilltop fortress, which is much older than the city itself, served from the 15th century onwards as the stronghold of Bastia’s Genoese overlords.