The name Calvi comes from the Latin word "calvus" meaning "bald", in reference to the bare rock upon which the citadel was built. On its rocky promontory, the citadel district bears witness to six centuries of Genoese presence. The ochre walls of its fortified surrounding walls stand imposingly above the lower town and port. Calvi’s old town is a maze of steep narrow streets and staircases lined by houses that are gradually being restored.