I had to throw in this historical story about Bonifacio. I found it very interesting:
The city was a Genoese stronghold since the 12th century. The citadel was attacked many times but the Great Siege happened in 1420 by the King of Aragon. At that point only Calvi and Bonifacio belonged to Genoa, everything else belong to the Aragonese. Calvi surrendered very quickly and then the King of Aragon sailed his fleet of 80 ships into the harbour at Bonifacio and began to bombard the town of with mortars and cannons. They also had muskets which the Genoese did not have at that time. There were no troops in Bonifacio, only townspeople. They fought back with bows and arrows, javelins, stones, boiling water and molten lead. They kept off the Aragonese for three months until they ran out of food and had to eat tree bark to survive. A truce was arranged and the townspeople agreed to surrender in 40 days if no help had come from Genoa. Thirty-two child hostages were given to the Aragonese as a sign of good-faith. On the 40th day there was still no sign of help from Genoa but on day 41 all the women and children joined in the seige and wore the armour of the dead and renewed the battle.
Finally seven Genoese ships appeared and with the help of the townspeople broke through the Aragonese ship stronghold and landed with new supplies. The Genoese continued to hold on to Bonifacio for five more months. In January of 1421, King Alfonso of Aragon sailed away with only his child hostages to show for all his battle efforts.
What a happy ending (except for the poor child hostages I guess).
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