Romieu Staircase

Before focusing on the staircase in front of you, take a moment to turn around and enjoy the view.

From here, you get a sweeping view of the Old Port, with the twin bell towers of Saint John the Baptist Church rising behind the masts. Those towers are actually more recent than the church itself. The one on the left was added in 1810, designed by Swiss architect Tomaso Quadri, while the one on the right was built in 1864 by Paul-Augustin Viale.

Strolling along the Old Port’s quays is a real pleasure, isn’t it? But let’s come back to the staircase. The Romieu Staircase leads up to the Citadel and was built between 1871 and 1873 with one goal in mind: connecting the Old Port to the upper town.

This monumental staircase was designed by Paul-Augustin Viale, the Bastia-born architect who also created the paving of Sainte-Marie Cathedral and, as you’ve just heard, one of the church’s two bell towers. This stairway was originally known as the Rinesi Staircase, named after a wealthy family who owned the red house just to the right. When one of the Rinesi daughters married a man named Romieu, a master cutler who crafted the staircase’s iron railings, the name changed in his honour.

With its fountain, statue halfway up, and decorative vases along the steps, the staircase was meant to impress. After all, it was one of the first things travellers arriving from the mainland would see, a proud symbol of the city’s prosperity.

Today, it’s listed as a Historic Monument.

Follow the path along the waterfront, we’ll head up the stairs and discover what’s at the top a little later.