[1] The island had considerable strategic importance in the western Mediterranean, being at the heart of the Habsburg communication network and serving as a forced stopover for small boats sailing between Spain and Italy.

[2] The Ottomans, accompanied by the French ambassador Gabriel de Luetz, had already defeated a Genoese fleet under Andrea Doria in the Battle of Ponza the previous year in 1552.

[5] The Ottoman admirals Turgut and Koja Sinan, together with a French squadron under Baron Paulin de la Garde, raided the coasts of Naples, Sicily, Elba, and then Corsica.

[7] The French were also supported by Corsican exiles under Sampiero Corso and Giordano Orsini (Gallicized as "Jourdan des Ursins") in this adventure.

[2] With only Calvi remaining to be captured, the Ottomans, loaded with spoils, decided to leave the blockade at the end of September, and return to Constantinople.

[2] With the help of the Ottomans, the French had managed to take strong positions on the island and finally occupied it almost completely by the end of the summer, to the dismay of the Papacy.