Algajola

Algajola

A general view of Algajola, seen from Corbara
Algajola

Coordinates: 42°36′31″N 8°51′46″E / 42.6086°N 8.8628°E / 42.6086; 8.8628Coordinates: 42°36′31″N 8°51′46″E / 42.6086°N 8.8628°E / 42.6086; 8.8628
Country France
Region Corsica
Department Haute-Corse
Arrondissement Calvi
Canton Belgodère
Intercommunality Calvi Balagne
Government
  Mayor (20082020) Maurice Pariggi
Area1 1.72 km2 (0.66 sq mi)
Population (2010)2 296
  Density 170/km2 (450/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 2B010 / 20220
Elevation 0–269 m (0–883 ft)
(avg. 14 m or 46 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Algajola is a French commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Algajolais or Algajolaises[1]

Geography

Algajola is a commune on the Balagne coast between Calvi, 12 km to the west, and Ile Rousse, 10 km to the East. It is one of 19 communes in the Canton of Belgodère and not to those of Calvi or Ile Rousse as its location would suggest. It is part of the arrondissement of Calvi.

Relief

The commune occupies a small area of 172 hectares on the coast bisected by small hills oriented north-south, the highest is a "saddle" straddling Algajola and Aregno which rises to 288m. To the west of the hills, Tebina is a flat area and Cocani covers the hillsides down to the resort. On both sides of the hills their slopes were once covered with maquis then were turned into terraces to cultivate strips of land. For a long time the maquis here consisted mainly of cistus and mastic, oaks and some wild olive trees which reestablished themselves on the abandoned terraces.

One small stream, unnamed on maps, rises in the commune at Tepina and empties into the port of San Damiano.

Boundaries

The borders of Algajola can be defined as follows:

The beach.

Habitat

Algajola Fort

Algajola was a small fishing port with a fort on the sea built with the concurrence of the neighbouring towns. Professional fishermen have almost disappeared and activities have turned to tourism. In a few decades the population of Algajola almost tripled although its territory is small. In summer, there are thousands of residents, Italian tourists, northern Europeans, and French people who come to visit this resort town with its fortress by the sea.

The western part of the commune has the marina of San Damiano.

Access

Rail Access

The village is served by the CFC railway line. During the summer season, it is the Trinighellu stop on the beaches service from Calvi to L'Ile Rousse.

Road access

There is a single road accessing the commune: the National Route N197. A parallel road accessing Aregno beach to the east starts from the roundabout which was opened in 2010 to the west allows access to the village by the sea. At the roundabout a road also leads to the fishing port/marina of San Damiano.

Neighbouring communes and villages

History

The Castellu

Antiquity

Algajola was built on the site of an ancient Phoenician city called Argha. An etymology from a commune at Alghero on a similar site in Sardinia is possible.

According to the historians Cluver and Canari, CÆSIÆ littus shown on the northern coast of Corsica by Ptolemy on his maps was Algajola. According to Müller it was the Gulf of Saint-Florent. Following his study, Xavier Poli excluded these hypothses stating that: "Cæsiæ is clearly the beach on the Gulf of Calvi" because littus means "sandy beach".[2] The Aregno beach that starts in the commune is equally sandy.

Middle Ages

Algajola, according to Gabbiola (or Gabiola),[3] was in the old Pieve of Aregnu.

Modern Times

From the 16th century to 1520 Balagne was a province of the Republic of Genoa. It was composed of the pieves of Tuani, Aregnu, Santo Andrea, Pino, and Olmia.[4] The Pieve of Aregno had several populated places: Arpagiola (or Gabiola), Corbaia, Monticello, Santo Antonino, Santa Riparata, Piaza, Pragola, Le Torre, Regno, li Catari lo Lavatogio, Lacona, Spano, Hogio, and Aquapessa with a total of approximately 1,350 inhabitants.

Algaiola was the administrative capital of the province of Balagne. A court for the nearby pièves was established there. A castle fortress was built shortly before 1531 for the use of the "lieutenant" (luogotenente: he was the representative of the executive power at the head of a province) of the Office of Saint George and part the Genovese defensive system.

Before the war that gave Henry II of France to the Genovese in Corsica, Algajola was a very minor fortress on the coast:

"The village, now almost abandoned, was also very small since it had little more than twenty-five or thirty fires. Today there are even less. Even so it is very conveniently located as anyone going to the Piève of Balagne at Algajola for business can come back at night to sleep in his house. It is without doubt that because of this convenience that the Office of Saint George chose this place to be the residence of the lieutenant in preference to many other more populated and perhaps healthier areas. There is a Franciscan monastery in this piève, a vast and remarkable site with its cool shadows, the goodness of water and the air, so good that at Rome or Genoa such a site would pay many thousands of écus".

- Monseigneur Giustiniani in Dialogo nominato Corsica, translation by Father Letteron in History of Corsica, Volume I, page 19 (French).

Algajola during the French war against Genoa

In January 1555 Manomozzo,[5] the Sergeant Sampiero was sent by Marshal de Thermes from Ajaccio with a hundred men - many Corsicans and some Gascons - to take Saint-Florent. Repelled by the Genovese, they retreated to Balagne and decided to take Algaiola - a small castle near the sea where a group of twenty-five Genovese soldiers were stationed. Using ladders forty men descended on the place.

"The Genoese were stationed in a tower overlooking the house: they killed some with stones and Arquebuses while others surrendered and were made prisoners. Only four or five were able to escape back up the ropes on which they had scaled down. There remained thirty-five men either dead or prisoners. The Gascons lost only their weapons and were released but the eight Corsican prisoners were taken to Calvi and hanged after suffering various tortures. This event took place during the month of January 1555. " - Marc' Antonio Ceccaldi in Chronicle, translated by Father Letteron in History of Corsica - Volume II, page 169 (French).

Shortly afterwards a French captain was sent from Ajaccio by Thermes with a galley and a cannon accompanied by plenty of ammunition to support Manomozzo's troops.

"The Captain in his galley fired a few shots of the castle, while Manomozzo fired on the ground with the cannon which had been landed there.[Note 1] Finding themselves surrounded, those in the castle were forced to surrender." - Father Letteron in History of Corsica Volume II page 170 (French).

Thermes was carrying a large quantity of food to Algaiola with fifteen galleys he had brought from Marseilles. Two hundred Gascons in two companies were sent by Giordano Orsino to guard the large supplies of food that were being sent.

Sampiero being absent from the island, people everywhere took up arms in favour of Genoa. Frightened, the Gascons fled without waiting for rescue and leaving the food to the Balanais who took a large quantity because the country suffered greatly from famine. Grechetto Giustiniano[Note 2] was sent by Quilico Spinola, the Commissioner and colonel of Signoria who commanded at Calvi, and arrived with his company to remove remaining food and transport it to Calvi. On arrival in Algaiola five French galleys sent by Giordano[Note 3] to prevent the Calvi troops from leaving.

"On these galleys were five Gascon companies who landed on the shore. When they saw that the Genovese soldiers took the food from Algaiola they barred the way. Surprised by such a sudden attack the Genovese fled and returned to Calvi." - Marc' Antonio Ceccaldi in Chronicle, translated by Father Letteron in History of Corsica - Volume II, page 201 (French).

The Genovese who were at Calvi however gave little rest to their enemies in the vicinity. On their departure from Balagne the French burned a few towers in villages favourable to the Genovese. When they were gone the Genoese came out in turn from Calvi and burned the towers remaining in villages who favoured the French, including that of Francesco of Sant'Antonino and several others. They then razed the walls of Algaiola to their foundations to prevent the French from establishing themselves in the future.

Genovese Algajola

In 1643 Arpagiola was taken and sacked by the Ottomans. The Barbary pirates also came to take their tribute of slaves. The Genovese who persisted in demanding the demolition of the towers and castles and prohibiting the carrying of weapons except on the coast where four rifles were permitted in Algajola. Two years later there was nothing but ruins.[6]

In 1664 Genoa did fortify the castle which remained the residence of the Lieutenant until 1764.

Algajola later became a community of the Pieve of Regino, one of the three pieves in the Regino Valley.

Algajola during the great revolt against Genoa

Extracts from the Chronology written by Antoine Dominic Monti, president of the ADECEC, published by them in 1979[7]

1730
1731
1736
1737
1739
1745
1753

The French leave the island. The control of Algajola is again Genoese.

1762
1764
1765

Under the pretext of an exchange of prisoners between Genoa and Corsica, Marbeuf obtains an interview with Paoli. In fact the French commander wishes to maintain freedom of trade between the mandated areas and the interior. He obtains the opening of markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays for his garrisons at the Caldano Tower at Lumio, for those at Calvi and Algajola.

1767

In 1789, the Pieve of Regino became the Canton of Algajola.

Contemporary Period

In 1954 Algajola had only 138 inhabitants and belonged to the Canton of Muro which was composed of the communes of Algajola, Aregno, Avapessa, Cateri, Feliceto, Lavatoggio, Muro, Nessa, and Speloncato.[4]

1971-1973: new cantons were created such as the Canton of Belgodère with the merger of the former cantons of Muro, Belgodère, and Olmi-Cappella.

The electoral disputes of the commune are famous and have been the subject of numerous court decisions. The current mayor is Mr. Maurice Pariggi, retired from public service. He is close to the Radical Left Party (he was 31st on the list "For Corsica in the Republic" in local elections in 2004, Zuccarelli Alfonsi list).

Administration

List of Successive Mayors[8]

From To Name Party Position
1877 1933 Joseph Marie Luiggi
1935 1945 Laurent Luiggi
1959 1959 Laurent Luiggi
1959 ? Joseph Martelli
2001 2020 Maurice Pariggi PRG

(Not all data is known)

Demography

In 2010 the commune had 296 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1800. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger towns that have a sample survey every year.[Note 6]

Population Change (See database)
1793 1800 1806 1821 1831 1836 1841 1846 1851
- 158 143 221 209 212 259 236 225
1856 1861 1866 1872 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896
210 191 159 135 149 167 177 193 196
1901 1906 1911 1921 1926 1931 1936 1946 1954
147 153 137 130 147 158 142 121 138
1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2007 2008
129 129 178 228 211 216 268 297 303
2009 2010 - - - - - - -
299 296 - - - - - - -

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Economy

Algajola Beach Hotel

Algajola has become a popular small resort. Located in Balagne, one of the two tourist poles of Corsica, with a hinterland rich in villages and historic buildings and monuments, it is an idyllic experience for all lovers of the sea, sunsets, and good food.

Sites and Monuments

Civil heritage

The Fort

Religious Heritage

Photo gallery

Holidays and leisure activities

See also

External links

Notes and references

Notes

  1. a preceding Galiot had foundered on rocks near the entrance of the port of the île d'Or in a storm.
  2. Leonardo Giustiniano, nicknamed Grechetto, a Genovese sergeant-major in Calvi then Captain at Bastia.
  3. Giordano Orsini, French officer who pursued the expedition to Corsica for Marshall Thermes
  4. Count Dumenicu Rivarola, the former Consul of Spain in Bastia, who lived at Livorno where he recruited Corsicans for the Spanish army. His son, Francesco Rivarola, a doctor, in 1735 was lieutenant-colonel of the Corsican regiment in the service of the Kingdom of Aragon
  5. In the second Treaty of Compiègne the French troops undertook to garrison Ajaccio, Calvi, Saint-Florent, Bastia, and Algajola for only four years
  6. At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002 , the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" which allow, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For municipalities with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually, the entire territory of these municipalities is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force on 1 January 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.

References

  1. Inhabitants of Haute-Corse (French)
  2. Xavier Poli - Corsica in Antiquity and the Upper Middle Ages, Librairie A. Fontemoing Paris 1907 (French)
  3. Lucien Auguste Letteron in History of Corsica, translation of Description de la Corse by Agostino Giustiniani - Bulletin de la Société des sciences historiques & naturelles de la Corse, 1888 – Vol. I, page 19. (French)
  4. 1 2 ADECEC Elemeents for a dictionary of proper names (French)
  5. Francesco d'Attalà, nicknamed il Manomozzo, or "the one-armed" - Father Letteron in History of Corsica - Vol. II, page 19 (French)
  6. History of Corsica, Colonna de Cesari Rocca, Louis Villat - Anc. Lib. Furne Boivin & Cie Éd. 1916 (French)
  7. The Great revolt of the Corsicans against the Genovese, 1729-1769 AD Monti, ADECEC, 1979 (French)
  8. List of Mayors of France
  9. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA00099152 Algajola Chateau-fort (French)
  10. Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM2B000665 Painting: Descent from the Cross (French)
  11. Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM2B000794 Gallery Organ (Instrumental part) (French)
  12. Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM2B000793 Gallery Organ (French)
  13. Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM2B000001 Gallery Organ (French)
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