Algajola (Corsican: Algaghjola) is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.
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: North: a mostly ragged coastline 3 km long along the shores of the Mediterranean with the Punta San Damiano. To the east of this part, away from the prevailing westerly winds, is the port of San Damiano, which was built in Roman times, and the village of Algajola with its fortress "feet in the water". This is part of a point located 500m west of Punta San Damiano ending 200 m from the sandy beach of Aregno in the east. This beach is covered with Posidonia or sea grass in winter which may perhaps be the origin of the name of the town (petite algue meaning "small algae") but this is probably a folk etymology
East: the border goes south from the start of the beach of Aregno and National Route N197 crosses the border just north of the Cala di Sole campsite then the border continues south to the hills of Monti (281 m) and the highest point in the commune (269 m) South: the boundary follows the ridge of the hills towards Capu Luna Piana (345 m-Lumio) without reaching it to a point located 251 m above sea level overlooking Algajola, Aregno, and Lumio. From there the border passes north-west to Ribe at a point approximately 400 m from the coast West: from Ribe the line runs north to the sea crossing the N197.
Habitat
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 a 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
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 hypotheses stating that: "Cæsiæ is clearly the beach on the Gulf of Calvi" because littus means "sandy beach".Xavier Poli - Corsica in Antiquity and the Upper Middle Ages, Librairie A. Fontemoing Paris 1907 The Aregno beach that starts in the commune is equally sandy.
Middle Ages Algajola, according to Gabbiola (or Gabiola),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. 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.ADECEC Elemeents for a dictionary of proper names 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 .
Algajola during the French war against Genoa In January 1555 Manomozzo,Francesco d'Attalà, nicknamed il Manomozzo, or "the one-armed" - Father Letteron in History of Corsica - Vol. II, page 19 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 .
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.a preceding Galiot had foundered on rocks near the entrance of the port of the île d'Or in a storm. Finding themselves surrounded, those in the castle were forced to surrender." - Father Letteron in History of Corsica Volume II page 170 .
Thermes was carrying a large quantity of food to Algaiola with fifteen galleys he had brought from Marseille. 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 GiustinianoLeonardo Giustiniano, nicknamed Grechetto, a Genovese sergeant-major in Calvi then Captain at Bastia. 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 GiordanoGiordano Orsini, French officer who pursued the expedition to Corsica for Marshall Thermes 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 .
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.History of Corsica, Colonna de Cesari Rocca, Louis Villat - Anc. Lib. Furne Boivin & Cie Éd. 1916
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 1979The Great revolt of the Corsicans against the Genovese , 1729-1769 AD Monti, ADECEC, 1979
1730 21 February. Genovese Governor Felice Pinelli, elected on 1 April 1728, learns that Farinole, Patrimonio, Saint-Florent, and Algajola are besieged and that Corte and Rogliano have fallen into the hands of the Corsicans. He sends Balagne Petru Pizzini, one of the Twelve-Nobles, and Lieutenant Domenico Maria Mariani. March. Algajola is besieged for several days.
1731 March. Algajola remains faithful to the Genovese Republic 5 April. The people of Balagne, unhappy with the corruption of Lieutenant Algajola, lay siege to the place. The inhabitants take refuge at Calvi and at Genoa without waiting for the assault. The tower of L'Île-Rousse is taken by the Corsicans.
1736 6 June. Theodore of Corsica passes Balagne accompanied by General Giacinto Paoli and Luigi Giafferi. The king attacks Calenzana and Algajola without much success.
1737 October. Military situation in Balagne: Calvi, Lumio, Calenzana, and Algajola are in the hands of the Genovese; the Nationalists are at Montemagiore, Lunghignani, Cassano, Zilia, Corbara, Monticello, and Santa-Reparata-di-Balagna.
1739 18 May. The Corsicans attack Piève and Algajola without success.
1745