Mediterranean cruise follows Napoleon’s spirit through France and Italy

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      Outside an ancient stone house in the medieval quarter of Antibes, on the French Riviera, a sign reads: “Napoleon never slept here.” A man, approaching to enter, tells my wife and me that some of the women in Napoleon’s family actually did stay there briefly while the future emperor was imprisoned nearby in 1794, during the French Revolution. In fact, he adds, Napoleon’s mother did her son’s laundry at an open-air public wash house just around the corner. We head off for a look, and there it is, carefully restored—a large stone tub, full of water, under a red-tile roof. In France, even the laundry of its national hero is worthy of note.

      My wife and I are taking a seven-day Mediterranean cruise along the coasts of Italy and France. Celebrating our 20th anniversary, we sail on the ultra-deluxe small Norwegian ship SeaDream I. She is a magic carpet, easing us in comfort and style through a region full of fascinating history.

      We have anticipated some wonderful ports. But what we have not foreseen is the many ways that Napoleon Bonaparte, or perhaps just his spirit, will keep making his presence felt, popping up unexpectedly in cameo appearances. These underscore just how completely he dominated Europe in his dramatic era of conquest and defeat. This quirky pattern emerges even before our cruise, which begins near Rome. We stay at an exquisite little hotel, the Lord Byron, near the leafy Villa Borghese gardens, which has an outstanding art gallery as a centerpiece. One striking sculpture, in white marble, portrays a nude, reclining Venus. According to an explanatory sign, the model was none other than Napoleon’s sister, Pauline, related through marriage to the wealthy Borghese family, who assembled the collection.

      The first port of the cruise is Bonifacio on Corsica, the mountainous French island where Napoleon was born and raised. It is an amazing clifftop fortress village that withstood centuries of threats from the Barbary pirates. Entering by a drawbridge, we stroll through twisting alleys to a house where Napoleon really did sleep, for a couple of months in 1793, just before his rapid rise to power.

      Our next scheduled destination is the Italian island of Elba, where Napoleon was forced into exile in 1814. But the weather is so stormy that our captain decides to spend another day on Corsica, at Calvi. Some claim that Calvi was the original home of Columbus, when Corsica belonged to the empire of Genoa. Perhaps feeling awed by the reputation of the great admiral, Napoleon’s ghost takes the day off, and we stumble upon no traces of the “Little Corporal”.

      Then we anchor off Viareggio, back on the Italian coast in Tuscany, for a day trip inland to Florence. We take a walking tour of the stunning medieval and Renaissance architecture, monumental public sculptures, and inviting pedestrian-only piazzas.

      Napoleon’s long shadow did not spare Florence, either. He passed through in 1809 and established the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, with another sister, Elisa, serving as the grand duchess until 1813, when she fled as Napoleon was defeated by an Anglo-Austrian army.

      Continuing by sea north on the Italian Riviera, our ship anchors off Portofino, with its brightly painted old houses. Once a simple fishing village, Portofino now caters to the yachts of the rich and famous. Going ashore, we hike up to a striking castle. And sure enough, Napoleon has left his mark here as well. He had the ancient fortification modernized, expanded, and equipped with better cannons, and renamed the village Port Napoleon.

      All too soon, our grand voyage ends at Monaco. But we want a few extra days on the Mediterranean, so we take the train an hour eastward to Finale Ligure, on the Italian Riviera.

      While a student, I bunked at a hostel in Finale Ligure. It was here that Margaret Theresa of Spain stopped briefly in 1666, while on her way to Vienna to marry Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor. A triumphal arch on the central piazza commemorates the event.

      This time, we stay at a boutique hotel, Punta Est, consisting of elegant villas perched on a cliff high above a perfect beach. The dining features traditional seafoods, such as pasta served with tender local clams sautéed in oil from the hotel’s own olive trees. When the double doors of our room are left open, we are lulled by birdsong and the roar of surf. A place of magic and romance.

      But let us not forget Napoleon, who had an impact here as well. While he controlled the region, he ordered a highly accurate survey and mapping project, the Napoleonic Cadastre, which helped his officials take the census and collect taxes. The fine resulting maps, drawn in Chinese ink and water colours, are now accessible on the Internet, like a 19th-century version of Google Earth.

      All of the main buildings in Finale Ligure can be seen clearly, along with the triumphal arch. It is a reminder that the town’s architecture predates Napoleon by centuries. He was a product of the French Revolution, which overthrew much of Europe’s old order. Far from belonging to some ancient past, his era is really the dawn of modern European history.

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