Fondation Fesch

The Palais Fesch in Ajaccio houses the city's main fine-arts museum, and its story begins with a churchman. Cardinal Joseph Fesch, born in Ajaccio in 1763, was the half-brother of Napoleon's mother Letizia Bonaparte and therefore Napoleon's uncle. After a career that took him to Lyon as archbishop and to Rome as ambassador, he gathered an enormous private collection of paintings, mostly Italian, and he left it to his native town. The palace that holds it was built in the early nineteenth century for that purpose, and the museum, known as the Musée Fesch, is the result of that gift.

The collection is the museum's glory. It is often described as the largest and most important collection of Italian painting in France after the Louvre, and the galleries are arranged chronologically, beginning with Italian primitives, the gold-ground devotional panels of the late Middle Ages, and moving through the Renaissance and Baroque into later centuries. Among the artists represented are Botticelli, Titian and Veronese, and the collection is especially rich in the Tuscan and Roman schools. Later rooms turn to Corsican painters of the twentieth century, which links the old Italian tradition to the island's own artistic story, and the museum also stages temporary exhibitions.

The complex also includes the Imperial Chapel, a funerary chapel built in the nineteenth century to receive members of the Bonaparte family, including Cardinal Fesch. The building is a quiet place, with a different atmosphere from the galleries, and it connects the museum to the Bonaparte story that runs through Ajaccio. Visitors who want to follow that story further can walk to the Maison Bonaparte, the house where Napoleon was born, and to the Citadelle d'Ajaccio on the seafront.

The palace sits in the old quarter near the port, a few minutes' walk from the Marché d'Ajaccio and the town's cafes. The streets here are lively in the morning, and a visit to the museum fits well after the market, since the galleries are cool and calm when the heat builds. Allow one to two hours, more if you enjoy looking closely at early painting. Beyond the town centre, the coastal path known as the Sentier des Douaniers and the beach at Capo di Feno offer an outdoor contrast.

The museum suits art lovers, history readers and anyone who wants a rainy-day or midday refuge. Opening times, prices and security rules change, so check the museum's current information before you go.