Book: Itinerary through Corsica

C >> Charles Bertram Black >> Itinerary through Corsica




miles from BONIFACIO
miles to BASTIA

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ALERIA. Inn. The capital of Corsica till the invasion of the Saracens in
the 4th cent., now a poor village with an old Genoese fort, situated at
the mouth of the Tavignano, 1-1/4 m. from the Etang de Diane. Ancient
Aleria, the colony founded by the dictator Sulla about 82 B.C., occupied
both banks of the Tavignano, which waters one of the finest plains in
the world, where winter is unknown. The site of the town was well
selected. The population was probably 20,000.

It was at Aleria that Theodore Neuhoff, a native of Altona, in Germany,
landed to have himself proclaimed King of Corsica, March 1736. He died a
pauper in London, and was buried in an obscure corner of St. Anne's
churchyard, Soho. On a mural tablet against the exterior wall, west end,
is the following epitaph written by Horace Walpole:--"Near this place is
interred Theodore, King of Corsica, who died in this parish, Dec. 11,
1756, immediately after leaving the King's Bench prison, by the benefit
of the Act of Insolvency. In consequence of which, he registered his
kingdom of Corsica for the use of his creditors." His capital was
Cervione. The lake de Diane is a great sheet of salt water with one
narrow opening to the sea. It formed the harbour of Aleria, and was
provided with quays, of which a vestige still remains. The lake contains
an island 460 yards in circumference, composed of oyster shells covered
with luxurious vegetation. Fish, and a cockle a species of Venerupis,
inhabit the brackish water of the lake.

ALERIA TO CORTE.

Coach every other day; fare, 5 francs; time, 4 hours.

Thirty-one and a half m. N.W., by a picturesque road up the
course of the Tavignano, passing Cateraggio, 2 m., Rotani, 5 m.,
commencement of bridle path leading N. to Tallone, 7-1/2 m., Tox,
9-1/2 m., Campo, 11 m., and Moita, 12-1/2 m. Seven m. farther up
the main road a ramification extends N. to Giuncaggio, 4-1/2 m.,
and to Pancheraccia, 5-1/2 m.

Up the main road, 21-1/2 m. from Aleria, and near the bridge across
the Vecchio, a bridle path strikes off S. to Rospigliani, 5 m., and
Vezzani, 6-1/2 m. A little higher a ramification extends 5 m. W. to
Serraggio (p. 8). The road, after passing several other ramifications
with the Corte and Ajaccio road, arrives at Corte, p. 8.

Ten m. W. from Aleria are the cold saline sulphurous springs of
Puzzichello, 190 ft., considered efficacious in the cure of
syphilitic diseases, resembling in this property the water of Aulus
in the Pyrenees. See Black's _South France_, West Half (Pyrenees).

[Headnote: PRUNETE.--CERVIONE.--ALESANI.]

miles from BONIFACIO
miles to BASTIA

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PRUNETE. _Inn:_ Gaetan. Junction with road to Ponte alla Leccia, 44 m.
N.W. (p. 9), leading through a region of chestnut trees and past many
villages on the mountains, built chiefly on terraces. A coach runs from
the station to Alesani called also Castagneto 1938 ft. 14 m. W.;
ascending by Muchieto 808 ft. 3-3/4 m., Cervione 1073 ft. 4-1/2 m., pop.
1000; _Inns:_ France: Voyageurs: an untidy village, once the capital
of King Theodore's realm. From Cervione the road describes a long
detour to the bridge across the Chebbia, whence it ascends to Cotone
1008 ft 6-1/4 m., the Col d'Aja 1236 ft., and Ortale 1489 ft., 1-3/4 m.
from Alesani. Good red wine is made in the neighbourhood of
Cervione. The dirty little village of Castagneto or Alesani is
picturesquely situated on the side of a mountain overlooking a
valley covered with chestnut trees. The diligence stops at an inn,
where bread, eggs and coffee with goats' milk can be had and a
comfortable bed. A char-a-banc from this inn to Piedicroce (Orezza)
costs 10 frs., time 2-1/2 hours, 11 miles. For Orezza, see p. 34.
Passengers from Prunete to Piedicroce or Stazzona should not stop at
Cervione but continue the diligence route to Castagneto, whence
start next morning. The drive between Castagneto and Piedicroce, 11
miles, is by far the most beautiful part of the road. The highest
part of the Col d'Arcarotta is a narrow ridge between the valleys of
Orezza and Ortia, commanding a charming view. See also p. 35.

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PADULELLA. Four and a quarter miles west by a good road is San Nicolao,
pop. 600.

[Headnote: STAZZONA.]

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FOLELLI-Orezza station. Junction with road to Piedicroce 14-1/4 m. S.W.;
by the course of the Fium'alto, the Chestnut country, and the
village of Stazzona, 13-1/4 m. from Folelli, 1/4 m. from and 355 ft.
under Piedicroce, and 1 m. from and 200 ft. above the spring of
Orezza. The coach from the station stops at Stazzona, pop. 250.
_Hotels_: *Paix, Casino. Very fine oleanders in the gardens. On the
opposite side of the valley of the Fium'alto is Granajola, with the
establishment Manfredi, 2016 ft. above the sea and 220 feet above
the spring. The hotel Manfredi has the most select society, is the
largest house, and its road from the spring is the least dusty; but
as no public coach goes there it is necessary to hire a private
conveyance either at Stazzona or Piedicroce, 3 or 4 miles. The
charge in all the hotels is 7 frs. per day, not including coffee or
tea in the morning. The hotels of Stazzona and the hotel Manfredi
are the most convenient for the Spa drinkers; those of Piedicroce
are too distant.

[Headnote: OREZZA.]

The Orezza spring is in the centre of a small terrace in the narrow
valley of the Fium'alto, whose steep banks are covered with chestnut
trees, and ascended by dusty winding roads. The water is a
bicarbonate chalybeate, with an agreeable amount of free carbonic
acid gas.

[Headnote: VESCOVATO.]

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VESCOVATO STATION. Town 1-1/4 m. W., pop. 1500.
*H. de Progreso in the large "Place" where all the coaches stop,
near a fountain of pure gushing water, cold even in summer. The
rather untidy town of Vescovato is almost hidden in the corner of a
valley, 550 ft. above the sea, by woods of vigorous olive and
chestnut trees. From it a coach starts daily to Porta, 15 m. W., by
a bad, dusty, jolting road, passing through Venzolasca, pop. 1300,
on the top of a hill, 732 ft., 1-1/2 m. from Vescovato. Three m.
farther a road, left, 1 m., leads to Porri, 1718 ft., pop. 300.
7-1/2 m. from Vescovato is the Col S. Agostino, and then follow, 8 m.,
Silvareccio, 2198 ft., pop. 550; 8-1/2 m., Piano, 2230 ft., pop. 170;
Casabianca, 4 m. farther, 2133 ft.; and then Porta, pop. 630; _Inn:_
H. Franceschi, in the "Place," opposite the church, where the coach
stops. In July and August the coach goes on to Piedicroce.

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PONT DU GOLO. A little more than 3 miles from the bridge, at the mouth
of the river, stood the town of Mariana, founded by Marius (B. 155, D.
86 B.C.), where Seneca most probably spent his exile, and of which there
remain only a few insignificant fragments on the beach. In the vicinity
are the ruins of a chapel, and about a mile farther those of the church,
called La Canonica, with 2 aisles and a nave 100 feet long and 40 wide,
ornamented with rows of pillars of the Doric order. Both church and
chapel are in the Pisan style.

At Casamozza Station, 12-1/2 m. S. from Bastia, the Aleria railway joins
the one from Corte.

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BASTIA. See p. 10.


Ponte alla Leccia to Piedicroce.

Eighteen miles S.E. by "Courrier" daily. Fare 3 frs. Time 5 hours,
by a mountain road, making immense circuits round by the heads of
ravines among rich pastures and great chestnut and beech trees.

Nine miles from the Ponte is Morosaglia, pop. 1060, with an inn,
where the coach stops. A conglomeration of hamlets on the slopes of
a mountain, one of which, Stretta, was the birthplace of Pascal
Paoli. 2 m. farther is the summit of the Col de Prato with an inn,
3215 ft., 2850 ft. below, or 3 hours from the top of San Pietro,
commanding a magnificent view of the Castagniccia or the Chestnut
country, and the islands of Monte Christo, Pianosa, and Elba,
floating in the haze between sky and water. See map on fly-leaf.

[Headnote: CASTAGNICCIA.]

The Castagniccia may be said to lie between the Golo and the
Tavignano, bounded on the W. by the railway. The chestnut trees are
not so famous for their size as for the qualify of their fruit.

The coach having passed the hamlet of Campana arrives at

[Headnote: PIEDICROCE.]

Piedicroce, pop. 600, several inns, 2104 ft., 18 m. from Ponte
alla Leccia, and 650 ft. above the spring of Orezza by a winding,
dusty, bad wheel road, passing Stazzona 1978 ft. above the sea.

Although Piedicroce is not a suitable place for those who come to
drink the Orezza water, it is an excellent centre for excursions,
the favourite one being to the top of Monte S. Pietro 5795 ft. in
3 hours, by the cabins of Tajalto 4600 ft., and a beech forest. Mule
to nearly the top. Guide and mule, 5 frs. See also above.

Coach in July and August to the Vescovato station by Porta, p. 34.


Piedicroce to Prunete Station, 26 m. S.E.

The continuation of the road from Ponte alla Leccia.

From Piedicroce the road passes by Pied'Orezza, 2106 ft., 1-3/4 m. from
Piedicroce, Piedipartino, 2124 ft., 2 m.; Carcheto, 2172 ft., 3m.;
Brustico, 2293 ft. 4 m.; the Col d'Arcarotta, 2698 ft., 5-1/4 m. from
Piedicroce, between the richly wooded valleys of the Fium'alto and
the Alesani, and commanding a very fine view of both. From this the
road gradually descends to Prunete, the most beautiful part being
from this Col to Castagneto called also Alesani, where there is an
inn and whence a coach starts daily to Prunete Railway Station.

[Headnote: CASTAGNETO.]

Seven miles from Piedicroce and 2 from the Col is Ortia, 2638 ft.,
pop. 400, hidden among chesnut trees; Felce, 2570 ft., 8-3/4 m.,
pop. 400; Pied Alesani 11 m.; Querceto, 2041 ft., and Castagneto
or Alesani, 1938 ft., 12 m. from Piedicroce and 14 from Prunete
Railway Station, the principal village in this valley.

A little below Castagneto, at the commencement of this chestnut
wooded valley is Ortale, 1489 ft., pop. 280. The coach then having
passed Cotone 1008 ft., 19-1/4 m., pop. 800, and having crossed the
little bridge over the stream Chebbia arrives at Cervione, _Inn_,
France: 1073 ft., 21-3/4 m. from Piedicroce, and 4-1/4 from Prunete. From
Cervione another coach descends to Prunete Railway Station by
Muchieto 820 ft. Prunete consists of a few houses near the beach,
resorted to by bathers in summer, situated on the highway between
Bastia and Bonifacio. See also p. 33.


Solenzara to Sartene,

46 m. S.W. This forest road, No. 4, ascends the valley of the
Solenzara, crosses the great S.E. range at the Col de Bavella,
descends into the valley of the Rizzanese, passes through the
villages of Zonza, San Gavino, Levie, and Ste. Lucie, and joins the
highroad between Ajaccio and Bonifacio at the milestone 76.690
(47-3/4 m.) from Ajaccio, 3-3/4 m. from Sartene, and 42 m. from
Solenzara.

The road, after passing up by the S. side of the river through olive
groves and "maquis," arrives at the Col and Maison de Cantonniers de
Castelluccio, 210 ft., 4 m. from Solenzara. Two m. farther by the Pont
de Ghiadole, the road crosses the Solenzara by the Calzatojo bridge,
6 m. from Solenzara, 340 ft., winds upward by the deep gully of the
Fiumicello, which having crossed by the bridge 7-1/4 m. from Solenzara,
ascends a steep winding road bordered with great trees to the Maison de
Cantonniers de Rocchio-Pinzuto, 8-3/4 m., 1060 ft., at the foot of the
great cliff of that name.

The road still winding upwards passes the immense wall of reddish cliffs
called the Rochers de Bavella before arriving at the Col de Larone
10-3/4 m., 2056 ft. The road, still winding, ascends a huge promontory
between the torrents Fiumicello and S. Pietro, separating into two
distinct parts the forest of Bavella, and crosses the Pont de Bocintoro,
1510 ft., 12 m. A little farther, in a wild yet beautiful situation,
is the Maison de Cantonniers d'Arghiavara. From the Pont 1-1/2 m. is the
better house, la maison forestiere de l'Alza, commanding superb views,
situated among great trees and nursery gardens.

The ascent from this is by a steep road, almost impracticable for
vehicles, through a forest of the stateliest and oldest pines in
Corsica.

18 m. from Solenzara and 28 from Sartene is the Maison de Cantonniers de
Bavella, 3885 ft., near the summit of the Col Bavella, 4068 ft. In this
house of refuge there is generally comfortable accommodation and a
supply of provisions. The surrounding huts are occupied in July and
August by people from the plains about Solenzara, who come here to
escape the fever-producing malaria. The house commands, even from the
windows, grand views.

On the other side of the Col, 550 ft. below it and 2-1/4 m. from it, is
the Maison de Cantonniers de Ballatojo, from which the road descends
amidst great pines mixed with a few oaks and ilexes, in view of the
Asinao forest and of the lofty granite pinnacled precipices, 10 m. long,
between Mt. Colva, 4520 ft., and the Point Tintinaja, 6658 ft.

Zonza, good inn, pop. 1040, height 2582 ft., 24-1/4 m. from Solenzara and
21-3/4 m. from Sartene, hidden among chestnut trees and conveniently
situated for visiting the forests of Zonza, Asinao, and Bavella.

[Headnote: S. GAVINO.]

3-1/2 m. beyond is San Gavino di Carbini, pop. 770, height 2238 ft., a poor
miserable village, where there existed in 1365 a sect of socialists,
with whom even the women and children were held in common, and by whom
were committed frightful abominations.

[Headnote: LEVIE.]

30 m. from Solenzara and 16 m. from Sartene is Levie, consisting of
various hamlets. Inn where the coach, running between this and Sartene,
stops. Pop, 2040, height 2238 ft This village, easily approached, is
situated among mountains abounding with game. It commands superb views,
and makes in April a very pleasant residence. In winter it is rather
cold. On the road between Levie and Santa Lucia di Tallano, 5-1/2 m. from
the Col d'Aja Vignarsa, 2408 ft., are seen the valley of the Rizzanese
and the Gulfs of Valinco and Ajaccio. On the grassy table lands of the
Col d'Aja are many rare flowers, among others a species of red
gladiolus.

[Headnote: S. LUCIA DI TALLANO.]

5-1/2 m. W. from Levie and 11-1/4 from Sartene is Santa Lucia di Tallano,
pop. 1300, Inn where the Sartene and Levie coach stops. S. Lucia is built
in terraces on the hills rising from the Fiumicicoli. Church 14th cent. The
wines grown in this neighbourhood command good prices in the Corsican
market.

Below, on the Fiumicicoli, is a hot sulphurous spring. On the way down
to the river by the sides of the Point Campolaccia, near a place called
Campolajo, is beautiful hornblende, page 27.

From Santa Lucia the road leads southwards by the Rizzanese to Sartene,
p. 27.




SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CORSICA.

It is not known who the original inhabitants of Corsica were. The
Phocaeans of Ionia were the first civilised people that established
settlements in Corsica. About the year 560 B.C. they landed on the
island, and founded at the mouth of the Tavignano the city of Aleria,
which after a short occupation they were compelled to abandon. After an
interval of a few years they again returned, rebuilt Aleria, which they
fortified, and endeavoured to maintain their ground against the natives.
After a struggle of some years they were again compelled to leave the
island. The next foreign occupants of Corsica were the Tuscans, who
founded the city of Nicaea, but they in their turn were compelled to give
way before the growing maritime power of the Carthaginians, whose
jurisdiction in the island was unquestioned till the beginning of the
first Punic War. On that occasion the Romans sent out a fleet, drove the
Carthaginians from the island, and exacted at least a nominal homage
from the native population. They did not, however, fully establish their
power here till about thirty years later, and even then rebellions and
revolts were of constant occurrence.

[Headnote: ROMAN COLONIES.]

The first step made towards the real subjugation of the island was the
establishment of the two colonies on its eastern coast-that of Aleria by
Sulla and that of Mariana by Marius. In the time of the emperors the
island had fallen into disrepute among the Romans, by whom it was used
chiefly as a place of banishment for political offenders. One of the
most distinguished of these sufferers was the younger Seneca, who spent
in this island eight years of banishment ending with 49 A.D.

[Headnote: ARMS.] On the downfall of the Roman empire in the West,
Corsica passed into the hands of the Vandals. These barbarians were
driven out by Belisarius, but after his death, 565 A.D., the resistless
hordes of Attila once more gained possession of the island. Since that
period it has successively owned the dominion of the Goths, the
Saracens, the Pisans and the Genoese. The impress of the last is to be
found in the style of the church architecture, while the armorial crest
of the island, a Moor's head, with a band across the brow, dates from
the expedition of the Saracen king, Sanza Ancisa.

The patroness of Corsica, the "Protectrice de la Corse," is Santa
Devota; who is also the patron saint of Monaco. The Corsicans often
style the Virgin Mary simply La Santa; and in their common exclamation
Santa! Maria is understood.

[Headnote: SAMPIERO.]

Among the most renowned and intrepid patriots in the struggle of the
Corsicans to free themselves from the Genoese was Sampiero, born of poor
parents towards the end of the 15th cent, in Dominicacci, one of the
hamlets which compose Bastelica. His house having been burned down by
the Genoese, the inhabitants in the 18th cent. constructed a new one on
the same site, on which Mr. Wyse, an Irishman, affixed a tablet with an
inscription in 1855, expressing his admiration of the man. After serving
with great distinction in the armies of the Italian princes and in those
of Francis I., King of France, Sampiero returned to Corsica in 1547 and
married the fair Vanina, heiress of Ornano, belonging to one of the
oldest families in the island.

Shortly after the marriage the Corsicans, led by Sampiero, revolted
against the tyranny of the Banking Company of St. George of Genoa, and,
assisted by the French, under General Thermes, overthrew them after six
years of hard fighting and much bloodshed, in which Sampiero and his
peasant army bore by far the greatest share. All, however, they had
gained at such immense sacrifice was completely lost to them by the
treaty of Chateau Cambresis, 1559, by which France agreed to restore
Corsica to Genoa. Sampiero and his family had to leave the island. Such
was the virulent and implacable hatred Sampiero bore to the Genoese,
that he with his own hand, in cold blood, strangled mercilessly his
trembling wife three years after (1562) in Marseilles, for having
allowed herself, in his absence, to be persuaded to make an arrangement
with the Genoese to save the patrimony of her children. Sampiero escaped
with impunity, although he buried his murdered wife publicly, and with
pomp, in the church of St. Francis at Marseilles.

Antonio Francesco, the younger son, who was, when a mere child, with his
mother when she was murdered, was afterwards assassinated at Rome by a
Frenchman, whom he had insulted while playing at cards.

On the 12th June 1564 Sampiero landed at the Gulf of Valinco with a band
of 20 Corsicans and 25 Frenchmen, to make another desperate attempt to
free Corsica from the hated yoke. After a five years' life-and-death
struggle, fired by a feverish thirst for revenge, the Corsicans had to
yield to the might of Genoa, supported by well-drilled Italian, German
and Spanish mercenaries, commanded by their greatest generals, Doria,
Centurione and Spinola, and aided by a powerful fleet.

On the 17th January 1567 Sampiero was slain in an ambuscade laid for him
in the defile of Cauro, into which he had been led by forged letters
brought him by the monk Ambrosius of Bastelica.

His elder son Alfonso d'Ornano continued the struggle after his father's
death, till the exhausted state of Corsica compelled him to desist and
to accept a general amnesty proclaimed by the Genoese governor George
Doria in 1569. Alfonso d'Ornano was afterwards created "Marechal de
France."

[Headnote: PASCAL PAOLI.]

From 1755 the Corsicans, led by the brave Pascal Paoli, carried on the
struggle for their independence against the Genoese, who were
occasionally assisted by the French. On the 15th May 1768 the former
sold their presumed claims to the island to the French, who ended this
war of subjugation by the terrible battle of Ponte Nuovo, 9th May 1769.
On the llth of June Paoli left Porto-Vecchio for London; where, at the
instance of the Duke of Grafton, then prime minister of England, he
received an annual pension of L1200.

After Corsica had been made one of the departments of France he was
invited in 1790, by the National Assembly, to take the supreme command
in the island. On his arrival at Paris (3d April 1790), on his way to
Corsica, he was feted as the Washington of Europe, and Lafayette was
constantly by his side; while, on his arrival at Marseilles, he was
received by a deputation, among whom was Napoleon. In July 1790 he
landed at Macinaggio, on the east side of Cap Corse.

The execution of the king and the cruelties and excesses of the
Convention having shocked the philanthropic spirit of Paoli and
alienated his sympathies, he organised a revolt to separate Corsica from
France, and succeeded by the aid of the English fleet, 20th July 1794,
when Calvi, the last of the forts, surrendered. On the 10th of June 1794
the Corsicans declared that they would unite their country to Great
Britain, but that it was to remain independent, and to be governed by a
viceroy according to their own constitution.

The English, from ignorance, managed the affairs of the island so badly,
that when in 1796 Napoleon sent troops against them, they were joined by
the Corsicans, who together forced the English to leave the island. Not
only had a certain Gilbert Elliot been named viceroy instead of Paoli,
but this same man having written to the Government that it was necessary
for the safety of the English to remove Paoli from the island, George
III. wrote Paoli a letter inviting him to return to England and to his
court. It is suspected that Andrea Pozzo di Borgo, president of the
Council of State, under the short viceroyship of Elliot, influenced, for
his own ends or from jealousy, the English in Corsica against Paoli.

Paoli lived twelve years more in London, died peacefully on 5th February
1807 at the age of 82, was buried in St. Pancras churchyard, and a small
monument to his memory was placed in Westminster Abbey. He bequeathed to
four professors of the intended Corte University salaries of L50 a year
each, but as it was never established the money was given to the Ecole
Paoli in Corte, attended by 120 pupils.

Since the expulsion of the English, the French have remained in
undisturbed possession of Corsica. The English occupation lasted from
1794 to 1796.

[Headnote: CHARACTER.]

The Corsicans look to the Government for the improvement of their island
far more than to their own efforts, for they themselves are neither
industrious nor enterprising. The roads, railways, bridges and other
public works are constructed chiefly by Italian labourers. The women do
the drudgery both in their homes and on the fields, carrying great loads
on their heads, as the mules do on their backs; but bestow little labour
on the cleanliness of their children and dwellings, and do not make good
domestic servants. In many small towns women are the bread bakers and
assistant butchers. The villages, excepting in Cape Corse, are untidy.
The use of the bath is almost unknown to young and old, rich and poor.

[Headnote: VENDETTA.]

The tendency to take summary vengeance, called vendetta, still exists in
the villages; where the people having no social amusements, nothing to
read, nor any other resource than cards during the winter nights, are
apt to quarrel over trifles; which, fanned by their local petty
jealousies, assisted often by the generous nature of their wine, ripen
into deadly feuds.

[Headnote: OAKS.]

The staple food of the majority of the inhabitants, as well as of the
horses and mules, during a great part of the year, is the chestnut. For
domestic purposes it is mostly ground, when it costs only about half the
price of wheat flour, which is procured chiefly from Marseilles, Corsica
itself producing very little. The ease with which the harvest of
chestnuts is annually obtained tends to foster indolence and deaden
enterprise among the peasantry. The one great danger to which the
generous chestnut trees are exposed is a conflagration. Besides olives,
pines, beeches and chestnuts, there are also important forests of
evergreen oaks, the Quercus Ilex, called also the holm oak. It has
abundance of dark-green ovate leaves, mostly prickly at the margin; the
acorns are oblong on short stalks; the stem grows to the height of 80
ft.; the wood is dark-brown and hard, weighing 70 lbs. the cubic foot,
while the same of the Quercus ruber or British oak weighs only 55 lbs.,
and the tree attains a vast age. The cork oak, Quercus suber, grows
either singly among other trees or in groups, principally in the
southern parts of the island. The bark is of little commercial
importance.

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