Monthly Archives July 2019

Built between 1852 and 1854 by some 300 men, this castle used to be the home of Pierre Napoléon, Napoléon Bonaparte’s nephew – until 1870. Member of Parliament for Corsica at the Constituent Assembly of the Second Republic, Pierre was also the most controversial Napoléon of his time. Known for his legal escapades in the US and afterwards in Rome, he was several times  involved in murders. The warm-blooded Napoléon was also a soldier, at first at the sides of Santander in Colombia, then in Algeria, where he took part in the battle of Zaatcha. Known for being President of the General Council of Corsica, his troubles nevertheless earned him to be ineligible by the Emperor himself. He eventually died in Versailles, in 1881. 

The castle remained in the family until 1925, when the...

Just like the ‘palazzi’ (mansions), the great noble houses, the monumental  tombstones are very much part of the architectural heritage of Cape Corsica. They were built between the late 17th and early 18th century, near hamlets and facing the sea. These were of course, external signs of wealth and the expression of a powerful link between the living and the dead. Along the road in all the villages of Cape Corsica, and always well in sight, impressive sepulchres are erected. Built by emigrants from this part of the island, or by the families of notables, these ‘mansions of the dead’ combine tombs and altars for celebrations, thus producing authentic funerary chapels.

The interior is often decorated with sculptures, paintings, candlesticks and precious monstrances...