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Bastia is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the island after Ajaccio and is the capital of the Bagnaja region and of the department. Bastia is the principal port of the island and its principal commercial town and is known for its wines. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bastiais or Bastiaises. Approximately 10% of the population are immigrants. The commune has been awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.
[edit] History
[edit] Ancient timesIn Roman times the site of Cardo with the north-eastern district of the current commune of Bastia and Pietrabugno formed a Pieve: the oldest known administrative division. This territory was occupied by the Vanacimi people. Bastia did not exist. Neither Ptolemy, Strabo, or Pliny in the descriptions they made of the island mentioned Bastia. [edit] Middle AgesAt the end of the 9th century, the territory or pieve of Mantino depended on the lords Loretesi. They were driven out in 1072 by the Da Furiani, Aschesi or Laschesi, aided by the Marquis of Massa. In 1370 the Republic of Genoa sent two governors to Corsica: Leonello Lomellino and Aluigi Toriorino. Shortly afterwards, considering the great expense and little profit in Corsica, the Republic decided to withdraw and no longer intervene in the affairs of the island. Nevertheless some Genoese gentlemen formed a partnership known as the Maona to try and manage the economy on the island on behalf of the Republic of Genoa. The five partners were: Leonello Lomellino, Giovanni da Balagnera, Aluigi Tortorino, Andreolo Ficone, and Cristoforo Maruffo. They all came with the title of Governor and brought with them a thousand soldiers. After an expedition to Cinarca followed by a short period of peace, Leonello Lomellino returned as governor and to gain an advantage over the Count Arrigo della Rocca with whom he would have to fight, he began by fortifying Aléria. " Then Count Arrigo and his allies once again crossed the mountains and made incursions against Cap Corse: having met no resistance, they went to besiege Aléria which capitulated after four months. Leonello, deprived of all support, returned to Biguglia and from there he went to build the castle of Bastia to maintain his sea communications".[1]
– Daniel Istria – Powers and fortifications in northern Corsica 11th – 14th Century p. 145 According to Giovanni della Grossa, the "seigneurialisation" of Loreto would have beene, as with Genoese families of the Cape, usurping the County title acquired during the "people's government". Small lordships that emerged from the courts of the Bishop of Nebbio, probably sometime in the second half of the 12th century or the beginning of the 13th century, were partly absorbed by the lords of Bagnaia before 1247. Then, before 1289, they were recovered and absorbed, like many others in the new lordship of Giovanninello de Loreto. Taking advantage of the Genoese-pisano rivalries, he extended his possessions to the east and west. Written documentation illustrates the business of territorial conquest conducted by Giovanninello during the years 1260–1280. After raiding the castles of Nebbio and Pureto in the Ostriconi, he went on to the conquest of the pieve of Orto, which was then under the control of Bagnaia, and he built two new fortifications: Montebello and Petra di Bugno. These were intended not only to dominate and control the northern part of Bagnaia, whose Cerlino Lake had a certain economic interest, but probably also to neutralise Porto Cardo, which occupied a strategic military position as well as having businesses. It was here that the fortress of Bastia was erected, the residence of the Genoese governors from the 15th century. The agreements between Giovanninello and the commune of Genoa in 1289 demonstrated the importance of this baronial control of land routes and anchorages, a major source of revenue and a guarantee of the security of the territory. [edit] Originally CardoBefore the occupation of Corsica by the Genoese there were several communities of the pieve of Orto: Soverta, La Vetrice, Belgodere, Astima, and Le Corbaia. All these villages have today almost disappeared. On the coast there was a small hamlet inhabited by fishermen called Porto Cardo which means "Cardo Port". [edit] Modern timesIn the 16th and 17th centuries the Franciscans settled in the Pieve of Orto. At the beginning of the 16th century, Monseigneur Agostino Giustiniani, Bishop of Nebbio, described in his Dialogo nominato Corsica:
– Agostino Giustiniani in Description of Corsica, translation by Lucien Auguste Letteron in History of Corsica, Bulletin of the Society for Historical and Natural Sciences of Corsica – Volume I – 1888, p. 50. Continuing, he writes:
– Agostino Giustiniani in Description of Corsica, translation by Lucien Auguste Letteron in History of Corsica. He ends his description as follows:
– Agostino Giustiniani in Description of Corsica, translation by Lucien Auguste Letteron in History of Corsica. [edit] The Genoese eraThe Genoese soon felt the need to protect Bastia from invasions coming from the sea and began to build a bastiglia (moat) and a citadel in the time of governor Leonello Lomellini. Over time, the Bastiglia (Bastia) has grown, become prosperous, and become more important than Cardo. Its history is in its "bastiglia" or citadel which was originally a walled city. Here it was the sea and the mountains that determined the location of habitations as well as the relief of the island. Bastia was the capital at the time of the Genoese domination. It spread to the slopes later, drawn toward the water in the Place Saint-Nicolas. Created by the Genoese patrician Leonello Lomellini in 1353 to liaise with Genoa, the city originated on the roack where a tower was built (a bastiglia, hence its name) and, a hundred years later, was surrounded by walls. At the beginning of the 18th century, many improvements were made in the Punta district, where many shops were built. Bastia and the whole island came under French military domination on 8 May 1769. In 1794, during a war with Revolutionary France, British troops under Admiral Nelson and Lieutenant-General David Dundas briefly captured Bastia. In 1848 Bastia took 44 hectares from Ville-di-Pietrabugno. [edit] Contemporary periodBastia suffered much damage during the Second World War. Nevertheless Corsica was the first department to be liberated on 4 October 1943 by the Corsican resistance in the Pearl Harbor secret mission (sent by the secret services of the military defence establishment in Algiers) and the submarine Casabianca. The commandos of the secret mission (Roger de Saule, Laurent Preziosi, the cousins Toussaint, and Pierre Griffi) landed in the night of 13 to 14 December 1942 from the submarine Casabianca in the Bay of Topiti. After organizing a network in this region (Piana), they then moved to organize a 2nd network at Corte led locally by Pascal Valentini, finally heading for Bastia to organise a 3rd network in the Bastia and Cap Corse region. It was around Hyacinthe de Montera, specifically at 35 Boulevard Paoli, that the movement was organized. Laurent Preziosi had already participated in the first meetings in 1941 before returning to Algiers to be recruited for the mission. The movement then organized within the National Front. The radioman, Pierre Griffi was arrested in Ajaccio, severely tortured, and shot in Bastia without talking on 18 August 1943. The turret of the submarine Casabianca is displayed at the corner of the Place Saint-Nicolas on the sea side. A commemorative stone of the first meeting was affixed to 35 boulevard Paoli (above the door). After the war, Bastia gradually emerged as a key economic centre of Corsica. The Bastia agglomeration is the most extensive on the island. During the last fifty years Cardo had the second homes of wealthy Bastiais. Currently Cardo is a district of Bastia on the heights of Pigno. It attracts many people who want to live there as it has all the advantages of a village in the countryside while being close to the city. [edit] Heraldry[edit] External links
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