Activities
Administrative centre of the Region and the Département and the biggest locality in Corsica, Ajaccio is at the centre of an agglomeration of 80,000 inhabitants and of an urban area housing a third of the island's population.
Economy: traditionally a service city, Ajaccio is also one of the main tourist destinations of Corsica and the top economic centre of the island by the number of salaried jobs and of enterprises.
History: Ajaccio started to grow at the time of the Romans and became a bishopric in the 6th Century. In 1492, the Genoese re-founded the city on its present site. In 1811, Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Ajaccio in on 15 August 1769, made his natal city the capital of Corsica. In 1943, Ajaccio was the first metropolitan French city to be liberated.
Heritage: The gulf of Ajaccio is the largest bay in Corsica and one of the most reputed in the Mediterranean for the quality of its sea-bathing, its pleasant climate and its panorama. Other than the citadel, the cathedral and the old city which dates from the Genoese period, Ajaccio has numerous historic monuments of which the most famous are Bonaparte's house and the Fesch Palace which houses a rich collection of paintings.