Itinerary through Corsica Part 2

{95} BASTIA, pop. 21,000. _Hotels:_ *France; Europe; Lingenieur; Croix de Malte over the post and telegraph office, all in the Boul. du Palais, 8 to 10 frs. Theatre; Public Library with 65,000 volumes. Steamers twice a week to Ma.r.s.eilles, time 18 hours, touching once a week at Nice, 12 hours distant. Fare direct to Ma.r.s.eilles, including food, 28 frs. To Nice, without food, 30 frs. Rubattino's steamers leave three times a week for Leghorn; time 6 hours. These same steamers proceed afterwards to Genoa. Railway to Corte. Rail also to Aleria, whence diligence to Bonifacio, Sartene and Ajaccio.

Diligences daily from Bastia to Cap Corse, 7 hours, 6 or 5 frs.; and also to Calvi, 12 hours, 13 or 10 frs.

[Headnote: BRANDO.]

Carriages to visit the stalact.i.te cave at Brando, 10 frs. Admission 2 frs. each. It is 7 m. from Bastia, above Erbalunga, on the face of a mountain; and was discovered in 1841 by M. Ferdinandi. A steep path leads up to it. Keeper near cave. See p. 12.

_Bastia_, the most important city of Corsica, is built on ground rising gently from the sea. Facing the sea and the princ.i.p.al harbour is the Place St. Nicholas, adorned with a marble statue of Napoleon I., by Bartolini, looking towards the island of Elba. In this "Place", the promenade of the town, are the offices of the Messageries Maritimes and of the Compagnie Insulaire. Fraissinet's office is at the old harbour; whence also their steamers sail.

From the Place St. Nicholas ascends the princ.i.p.al street, the Boulevard du Palais, to the Palais de Justice. In this Boulevard are the post and telegraph offices (whence most of the diligences start), the hotels, cafes and the best shops, and from it ramify the streets of the town. At the top of the B. du Palais commences, right hand, the Boul. Cardo, one of the best roads to take for views of the town and neighbourhood. A flight of steps leads from the quay up to the cathedral, a handsome building in the Italian style. The markets are held in the "Place"

fronting the cathedral. Most of the houses are built in large blocks from 5 to 6 stories high and from 6 to 9 windows broad, each story forming a separate residence.

Bastia owes its name to the bastion built here by the Genoese in the 14th century. From the hills behind Bastia the view embraces the islands of Gorgona, Capraja, Elba, and Monte-Christo, seen best from the top of the Serra di Pigno, 3640 feet. Refer to map on fly-leaf.

[Headnote: STEAMERS.]

The most beautiful part of Corsica, and the most easily visited, is the eastern side, including the Castagniccia or the chestnut country, and the whole region up in the mountains, which border this coast. The wealthiest, most industrious and most enterprising of the people are those who inhabit that long narrow tongue of land called Cap Corse.

Although boats are constantly sailing from Ma.r.s.eilles and Leghorn to Bastia, invalids visiting Corsica with the intention of wintering in Ajaccio should, if possible, sail from Ma.r.s.eilles or Nice direct to Ajaccio; but on leaving the island, when winter is over, Bastia is perhaps the best port to sail from, as it affords an excellent opportunity for visiting the most beautiful parts of Corsica and the most important towns in Italy. On arriving at Leghorn (see Black's _South France_) it is best to proceed at once to the railway station, and start for Pisa, only 30 minutes distant. There are numerous trains.

At the station and in the kiosques in the "Piazzas" of Leghorn, is sold an excellent little book with all the railway Time-tables, _L'Indicatore Ufficiale_, price 50 c.

[Headnote: CAP CORSE.--WINE.]

CAP CORSE.

Bastia to Rogliano and Morsaglia.

See General Map, p. 1.

By diligence, fare to Rogliano, 4 frs. and 3 frs., distance 27 m., 6 hrs. To Morsaglia, 5 and 4 frs., distance 37 m., 8 hrs. By the road skirting the eastern side of the peninsula of Cap Corse, the best cultivated part of the island, and containing the tidiest villages. The best Cap Corse wine, mostly white, is produced around Luri and Rogliano.

The quality used as table wine is drunk the first year. It improves till the fifth year, the better qualities till the tenth and twentieth year.

Cap Corse is traversed by a rugged mountain range or serra, of which the culminating peaks are Mount Alticcione, 4230 feet; Mount Stello, 4536 feet; and the Serra de Pigno, 3640 feet. From the east side of this rugged serra little fertile valleys extend to the sea.

[Headnote: PINO.--LURI.]

Mr. Freshfield thus describes the "Cap":--"Down a promontory 8 to 10 m. wide runs a range 3000 to 4000 ft. high, with the crest towards the western coast and the valleys towards the eastern. Hence the western Cornice road is a terrace along an always steep, sometimes sheer, mountain side, while the eastern crosses a succession of low maquis-covered spurs, which beyond Cap Sagro flatten and become monotonous. Pino is one of the most beautiful sites on the western coast. It is also important as the spot where the cross-road through the vale of Luri, under Seneca's tower, falls into the western Cornice. Half-way on this road the village of Luri groups itself in the most picturesque way imaginable on a hill-side broken by a deep ravine. Down on the seash.o.r.e above the little Marina or port is a large convent; a church occupies a projecting brow 200 ft. above it; higher still, and right and left, every vantage-ground is occupied by groups of well-built villas and sepulchral chapels. The slopes are terraced into orchards of citron, lemon, peach and almond trees, olive groves and vineyards, sheltered from the gales of winter by high palisades."

Farther south, 5 m., is Nonza, with inn, 479 ft., pop. 550. Coach to St. Florent. This is one of the most curious villages of the island. It stands like an eagle's nest, perched above the sea on a black rock on the mountain side. Its houses, built level with the edge of the cliffs, formed in olden days a sufficient rampart against marauders.

The diligence having pa.s.sed Lavasina 4 m. from Bastia, Brando 7 m., and Erbalunga 6 m., halts at Sisco-port 9 m. To visit the cave of Brando take the steep narrow path left, near a mill, just before arriving at Erbalunga. Seats in shady places are placed here and there. The keeper's house is close to the entrance. The diligence then proceeds by Pietracorbara 11 m., and the Torre all'Osse 13 m.; one of the best remaining specimens of the 85 towers built by the Pisans and Genoese to ward off the attacks of the Saracens. From the Torre the diligence proceeds other 2 m. to Perticciolo, where it halts.

[Headnote: SENECA'S TOWER.]

Two miles farther is S. Severa, where the horses are changed and the pa.s.sengers breakfast. From S. Severa, a road ramifies 10 m. W. to Pino on the other side of the peninsula by the valley of the Luri, with vineyards and orange groves, pa.s.sing the village of Luri 3 m., with good inn, the Col de S. Lucie 7 m., 1363 ft., and Saronese 9 m. From the Santa Severa inn, Seneca's tower is distinctly seen, at the head of the valley, on the summit of a precipitous peak, rising from the S. side of the Col, 1355 ft., from which a steep, stony path leads up to it, by a forsaken Franciscan convent. The view is grand. To this tower, one of the many watch-towers built in the 12th cent., Seneca could never have been sent, but to the Roman colony of Mariana, then used as a place of banishment for political offenders.

[Headnote: SENECA.]

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was born at Cordova in Spain, just before the commencement of the Christian era. His eldest brother was A. Seneca Novatus, which name was altered afterwards to that of his adopted father, Junius Gallio. This brother was the proconsul of Achaia, before whom St. Paul was arraigned (Acts xviii. 12). While Seneca was still a child he was brought by his aunt to Rome, where he had for teachers Sotion, Papirius Fabia.n.u.s and Attalus the Stoic. Although weak in body he was a most diligent student, which, joined to his powerful memory, enabled him to obtain at an early age important offices. Before his banishment, A.D. 41, he had already served as quaestor. Having irritated Caligula, he would have been put to death, had not one of the mistresses of the emperor a.s.sured him that it was not worth while, as Seneca was so consumptive he would soon die a natural death.

In the first year of the reign of Claudius, his wife Messalina having become jealous of the influence his niece Julia, daughter of Germanicus, had over Claudius her husband, succeeded in getting rid of her by imputing to her improper intimacy with Seneca, then a married man. For that reason Seneca was banished to Corsica A.D. 41.

During his exile he wrote his consolatory letter to his mother Helvia, as well as a panegyric on Messalina and a consolatory letter to Polybius, ostensibly to condole with him on the loss of his brother; but in reality to get that powerful freedman to exert his influence with the emperor, to recall his sentence of exile. This letter is full of fulsome flattery and expressions unworthy of an honest man.

After the death of Messalina, Claudius married his niece Agrippina, sister of Julia and mother of Nero by a former husband. Through her influence Seneca was recalled A.D. 49 and appointed a praetor and tutor to Nero, then 11 years old. In A.D. 51 Agrippina poisoned her husband.

[Headnote: MACINAGGIO.--ROGLIANO.]

From S. Severa, the diligence, resuming its journey, pa.s.ses Meria 20 m., and halts again at the port of Macinaggio 2 m. more. From this commences the steep ascent up to Rogliano 1300 ft., a town built in groups on the side of the mountain, among vineyards and olive and chestnut trees, the inn being in the second highest group, near the post-office. After Rogliano the diligence crosses the Cols S. Anne, Cappiaja and S. Nicholas, and arrives at Botticella 31 m., and then proceeds to Ersa with inn, near the top of the Col de Serra 1182 ft., commanding a good view of Cap Corse. Shortly afterwards the diligence arrives at Morsaglia, called also Pecorile, a village composed of groups of houses like Rogliano on the side of a hill. The conductor of the diligence will show the hotel. Six miles S. from Morsaglia is Pino, see p. 12.

[Headnote: BOTTICELLA.]

From Botticella a road leads 4 m. N. to Barcaggio, opposite the island of Giraglia, on which is a first-cla.s.s lighthouse, 269 feet above the sea, seen within a radius of 14 m.

From Morsaglia the road is continued 31 m. farther to the Col S.

Bernardino on the Bastia and St. Florent road, pa.s.sing Pino, 25 m. from the Col S. Bernardino; Minerbio, 21 m.; Marinca, 16 m.; Nonza, 9 m.; Farinole, 2 m.; Pont du Patrimonio, 1 m.; and joins the Bastia road at the Col S. Bernardino, 11 m. W. from Bastia.

Bastia to Calvi.

57 miles west; time 12 hours; fare 13 and 10 frs.

[Headnote: COL TEGHIME.]

miles from BASTIA miles to CALVI

{ }{57} BASTIA. The road traverses a mountainous country, with scanty vegetation. As far as St. Florent the prevailing rocks are micaceous and beyond granitic. Immediately after leaving Bastia the diligence commences the ascent of the Col de Teghime (1785 feet) in the Serra di Pigno, discovering as it winds its way upwards, an ever-extending panorama over the great eastern plain, including Lake Biguglia, and the Mediterranean with the islands of Elba, Gorgona and Monte Christo. As the road descends towards the western sh.o.r.e, the enchanting panorama of the blue gulf of St. Florent, encircled by low reddish rocks, gradually unfolds itself. It was at this road, made by Count Marboeuf, at which, it is said, King Bernadotte worked among the other labourers. It pa.s.ses the hamlets of Barbaggio and Patrimonio, the Col St. Bernardino 11 m.

from Bastia, and the Pont des Strette, and enters the valley of Nebbio, partly watered by the sluggish Aliso, flowing through a marsh crowded with oleanders.

[Headnote: ST. FLORENT.]

{14}{42} ST. FLORENT, pop. 760. Hotel de l'Europe, where a hurried breakfast can be had while the horses are being changed. Close to the village is the site of the ancient town of Nebbio, occupied now by a few poor houses and a small church, now a ruin, built in the 12th century. Napoleon said, "St. Florent has one of the finest situations I have ever seen. It lies most favourably for commerce, its landing places are safe and its roads can accommodate large fleets. I should have built there a large and beautiful city." It was one of the first places to give adherence to the Bank of Genoa.

The road now for some distance leaves the sh.o.r.e and ascends a range of barren hills containing slate, limestone and granite. Hardy trees become more abundant than the chestnut, and the mountains higher and more imposing, as we approach the little port of

[Headnote: L'ILE ROUSSE.]

{42}{15} L'ILE ROUSSE, pop. 1610; Hotel Europe. The diligence stops in the "Place" near the monument to Pascal Paoli, and remains a sufficient time to enable the traveller to cast a glance over the main features of this port, founded by Paoli in 1759. The street beyond the "Place" leads by the market to the harbour and to the long jagged tongue of red sandstone rocks projecting into the sea, bearing on the extreme point a lighthouse of the fourth order. Steamer every alternate week to Ma.r.s.eilles. There is a charming view from the eminence St. Reparata, crowned with a church, now abandoned.

Inland from L'Ile Rousse is the fertile valley of Balagna, famous for the size and fertility of its olive trees (p. 20).

{47}{10} ALGAJOLA, pop. 200. The block of granite which forms the pedestal of the column in the Place Vendome came from the quarries of this place.

Pillars 65 feet long can be procured from this quarry.

[Headnote: LUMIO.]

{51}{6} LUMIO, pop. 1100, among orange groves and high cactus hedges. From the hills here there is a beautiful view of the valley and gulf of Calvi.

Junction here with road to Corte, 55 miles, south-east, pa.s.sing through a charming and picturesque country (see p. 20).