Albertacce
Albertacce is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse in the island and collectivity of Corsica, France.
Geography
Albertacce is located in the heart of the Regional Natural Park of Corsica.Location
Albertacce is located high in the Corsican mountains some 30 km in a direct line east by north-east of Porto on the west coast and 15 km west by north-west of Corte. Access to the commune is by a single road, the D84.Relief
The commune occupies the southwest part of Niolu surrounded by a vast mountainous circle formed of high peaks in the watershed of Golo. Its boundaries are marked as follows:- to the north and west: by the main mountain range of Corsica, the massif of Cinto with Paglia Orba, Capu Tafunatu, Capu ae Gharghiole, Capu di Guargnerola, Punta Cricche, the col de Vergio, Capu a Rughia, Bocca San Pedru
- to the south by the mountains of the Rotondo mountain range, its limits being delineated by the peaks U-Tritore , Punta Artica and Capu-di-a-Facciatu
- to the east by a line to the north from Capu-di-a-Facciatu, through Castellu Montone, the fold of Tileri, joining the Golo downstream of Ponte Altu and along the river to Lake Calacuccia. This line bypasses the village of Albertacce and the hamlets of Pietra-Zitamboli and goes back to Punta Crucetta along a ridge through Capigliole a e Furchelle, Capu di Villa and Capu Falu.
To the northeast of Valdu Niellu, between the mountains of Cinto and a ridge linking Crucetta Punta, Capu Falu, Capu di Inzecca, the Cresta di l 'Inzecche, Monte Albanu, and the remarkable Cinque Frati is the upper valley of Viru a tributary of the Golo.
The western slopes of the valley are covered by the communal forest of Albertacce composed mainly of Corsican pine. The pine is called lariciu is part of the large family of black pines. It can occur at altitudes between 1000 and 1800 m on sunny slopes. There are nuthatches, non-migratory birds which live on the tree trunks moving head down. There are 2,000 pairs in Corsica.
Along the length of Valdu Niellu on the southern slope of the col de Vergio is another remarkable Corsican pine forest: the Forest of Aïtone.
Towards the peaks on the shady side, between 1600 and 2100 metres, pushes the fragrant alder trees. These are shrubs without trunks and rarely exceeds 3 metres high. Its leaves are sticky and its branches were once used by shepherds to cover their huts. The forest is said to be impenetrable. In February the first Crocus corsicus can be seen on the mountains, species unique to the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. On the heights mouflons can be seen from the colony of Cinto.
Hydrography
The hydrographic network includes numerous streams and springs. The river Golo rises from 1991 metres in the commune south of the Paglia Orba and 200 m to the south of the Capu Tafunatu. Its course is interrupted by the Calacuccia Dam. It leaves the commune 200 metres upstream of the Mazzola bridge on the D218 road. The Viru, the main tributary of the commune, is fed by several streams such as that of Paglia Orba and Foggiale bordered in part by the GR 20. At the bottom of the creek beds, there are native species: the Tyrrhenian painted frogs - toads living up to 1900 m and Corsican brook salamanders. The Corsican brook salamander has no lungs. It breathes through the skin and mouth.Habitat
The small population of Albertacce is divided between the Albertacce village and the hamlet Pietra Zitamboli, the village Calasima, and in the forest of Valdu Niellu.Albertacce Village (''E Lupertacce'')
The village is built on a gentle slope towards the river Golo in a chestnut grove. Although near Lake Calacuccia, the town does not border the lake. The houses are partly grouped with the shops around the parish church, others are aligned along the D84.The old buildings were built with red tile roofs and walls built of gray granite. Some massive houses in the baroque style were formerly houses for nobles.
Albertacce has a water tank and a sewage treatment plant.
Pietra (''A Petra'') and Zitamboli (''Zitàmbuli'')
Pietra and Zitamboli are two neighbouring hamlets northwest of the village of Albertacce, Zitamboli being located below Pietra. Between the two, a church was built. Its bell tower is similar to that of the parish church of the village and those of neighbouring towns. Access is difficult - both villages are served by the small road D318 that leads to Calasima.Calasima (''Calasima'')
Built at 1100 m altitude, Calasima is the highest village in Corsica. Today a hamlet of Albertacce, this village has houses clustered around its church, war memorial and cemetery. Calasima is equipped with a water tank and a sewage treatment plant.The hamlet is a rare example of a cold-summer mediterranean climate.
Valdu Niellu
The vast forest Valdu Niellu has some residents. The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment of the Foreign Legion has a chalet at Vergio for their training in the mountains. At Poppaghja there is a forester's house belonging to the ONF.Access
Access to Albertacce is by the D84 road which is the only road which crosses the Niolu and serves all the communes of the microregion.Neighbouring communes and towns
History
Prehistory
Excavations undertaken since 2006 on the site of A Curnatoghja at Albertacce and also at Sidossi close to the hamlet of Calacuccia on a spur called E Mizane on the lakefront, have revealed some archaeological finds which attest to human presence at the end the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. These include fragments of ceramics, stone tools like shards, a scraper and arrowheads.The Archaeological Museum of Niolu of Lucien Acquaviva at Albertacce is intended to highlight the specific terminology of megalithic Corsican. A Menhir statue of a Niolu "soldier" wearing a suit of armour, a breastplate of the Peoples of the sea, and a dagger was discovered during the demolition of the chapel of Saint-Jean Baptiste which was decided on in 1985 by the City Council of Calacuccia. This stone called Ghjuvan Battista III was incorporated with two other menhirs into the walls of the chapel Saint-Jean Baptiste of Calacuccia that was next to the church when it was built in the 12th century, probably to confirm the victory of the Catholic religion over pagan rites because in the 7th century, Pope Gregory I claimed that he had repressed the "cult of stones" in Corsica.
Antiquity
According to Ptolemy Corsica was inhabited by twelve nations who, for the indigenous majority, had not been subject to Roman influence to a great extent. Niolu was inhabited by the Licnini, a people who occupied the middle basin of the Golo. Masters of the Casacconi and Ampugnani countries they returned to the mountains, populating the cantons of Caccia and Niolo. The Greeks used the term "Lieninoï" to refer to the people.Middle Ages
It is also likely that the Saracen colonies of Corte and Balagne, harassed by Christian patriots, were driven back into Niolu where significant names of Calaguccia and Calasima were applied to two villages.In the 16th century around 1520, the Pieve of Niolu was uninhabited. The Bank of Saint George, which had managed Corsica since 1453, used the troops of Nicolo Doria in 1503 to destroy the houses in the villages of Lozzi, L'Acquale, Erco, Corscia, Calacuccia, Casamaccioli, Sidossi, and Erbechincieby.
The Bank of Saint George did the same with the neighbouring Pieve of Sia, ordering the depopulation Sia due to the non-submission of its inhabitants to the Lordship of Leca burning houses and crops.
Modern times
From 1729 Niolu took part in the uprising against Genoa, creating unrest in opposing the publication of judicial decisions. In early March 1730 the people of Niolu occupied Vicu and seized 200 guns in the house of the Lieutenant. On the night of 29 to 30 March 1734, Castineta attacked, at Camputile, Ghjacumu Santu Petriconi at the head of 300 Genoese troops - Greeks for the most part - and forced him to retreat to Vicu.On 13 January 1739 Lieutenant-General Jean-Baptiste Francois des Marets, marquis de Maillebois was appointed army commander of the King in Corsica and he came to Corsica. On 24 June of the same year Niolu submitted to General Maillebois.
From 30 July to 1 August 1751, deputies and prosecutors from the Pieve assembled in Oletta and signed an act of submission to the Republic of Genoa, an act by which the King of France tried to make favourable for the Corsicans. Troops were ready to occupy the Niolu which remained refractory. At the last moment its inhabitants made their submission on 13 August 1751.
On 15 May 1768 the Genoese ceded Corsica to France.
After the conquest of the island by the French troops of Louis XV in 1769, Niolu experienced savage military repression. The French subdued nascent revolts under the Generalship of Pasquale Paoli. At the convent of Saint-François-di-Niolu at Calacuccia eleven Niolins were hanged from the chestnut trees of the convent on 23 June 1774 on the orders of General Sionville including a man from Albertacce. His name Ghjuvanni Albertini is mentioned on the commemorative plaque at the entrance of the convent.
With the French Revolution that created the department of Corsica with Bastia as prefecture, the Pieve of Niolu became the Canton of Calacuccia in 1789.
In 1793, the National Convention divided the island into two departments: Golo which included Albertacce and Liamone. These were reunited in 1804 by Napoleon I who reestablished the department of Corsica.