First appearances suggest it to be a gentleman's summer residence rather than the seat of exile for France's hapless emperor, Napoleon I. But indeed, this structure, located in the city of Portoferraio on the Italian island of Elba, was the nobleman's official residence during his brief, nine-month residency here in 1814 and 1815.

The dwelling isn't without lofty sensibilities, occupying as it does a flattened plot of land in the most elevated part of the city. Its sense of importance is heightened by the fortifications surrounding it: there's Forte Stella next door, Forte Falcone keeping its eye on the Ligurian Sea behind it, and the fringed Medicean Bastions that sweep solid and war-like towards the port on the promontory's southern edge. So well-fortified is this city, it was dubbed by Admiral Horatio Nelson "the safest port in the world".

It takes some time and effort to reach Napoleon's palace – Villa dei Mulini – by way of the steep, higgledy-piggledy roads leading through Portoferraio's walled old town. It's an exploration in itself, finding one's way up here. The self-guided route has led me through centuries-old tunnels threading rudimentarily through the city's pink granite rock face.  Houses cling to the hillsides, defying the gravitational pull towards the port which recedes now into the distance far below me. Their roofs are tiled in terracotta, their colours mixed and matched in gentle shades of apricot and salmon-pink and that same butter yellow of Napoleon's villa.

Up and up the cobblestone streets I've walked, past bicycles stacked casually against peeling walls, past neatly-potted geraniums and Catholic shrines and bright washing hung out to dry. Though this citadel's hillsides have been pasted with mortar and bricked with stone, nature somehow pushes through: there are doorways draped with lavish swathes of bougainvillea, wildflowers growing unbidden from rock faces and crumbling walls.

Finally, I reach Napoleon's house – now a museum – and discover that today, Tuesday, is the one day of the week it's closed. So I appraise it from outside instead: from Piazzale Napoleone it appears flat and unprepossessing; but further along, as I climb the ramparts at Forte Stella, I spy the residence from its impressive frontal perspective. It is built in the Tuscan style and flanked by spacious formal gardens, which I now imagine the emperor strolling through as he plots his return to the throne. The garden walls, smothered in overgrowth, rise from the cliff-face, forming a suitable barrier between the palace and those pirates intent on plundering it.

And then there is that bay, of which Napoleon would have had limitless views. It's cloudy today, but even so the water is mottled turquoise and teal and navy blue. From here, and from the sentry boxes and all along the fortifications, I can see the rocky coastline decorated in bright yellow fennel bushes and punctuated by white-pebble beaches. The lighthouse rises up from the north-eastern rampart, a masterpiece in white limestone and yellow granitic porphyry mined right here on Elba.

Though Forte Falcone and the Medicean Bastions are just a stone's throw to the west, I must return to the bottom of the hill and ascend a different path in order to reach them. I could skip downhill if not for those uneven cobblestones; instead I step carefully, threading into this alleyway and that, genuflecting on my way in to Santissimo Sacramento with its high marble altar, beautiful frescoes and wooden cross said to have been made from Napoleon's bed.

From here, the road cuts through the rock-face before arriving at the perimeter of the mighty Medicean Bastions. I pay a small fee to enter and weave my way through the ruins, ascending through them until I emerge into what appears to have once been a walled garden in Forte Falcone. The view is uninterrupted: to the east is Napoleon's house, set against the backdrop of the lighthouse and the sailboat-flecked bay. To the south is the bustling port. To the west is the island's flank, stretched out in a symphony of villages and ancient granite quarries and endless national park. And to the north is the Ligurian Sea, separating Napoleon – though not for too long – from his beloved homeland, France. 

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

www.infoelba.com

GETTING THERE

Qantas offers direct daily flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Rome via Dubai with codeshare partner Emirates. Prices start around $1592. See www.qantas.com.au

TOURING THERE

Windstar Cruises' Star Legend and Star Breeze sail from Rome to Barcelona and vice versa and dock at Portoferraio en route. Prices for the seven night voyage start from $2455 per person twin share, including port fees and taxes. Contact Travel the World at www.traveltheworld.com.au or on 1300 857 437.

Catherine Marshall was a guest of Windstar Cruises.