Ancient times During the
Roman Empire, the site of Cardo with the north-eastern district of the current commune of Bastia and Pietrabugno formed a Pieve: the oldest known administrative division. This territory was occupied by the Vanacimi people. Bastia did not exist. Neither
Ptolemy,
Strabo, or
Pliny in the descriptions they made of the island mentioned Bastia.
Middle Ages At the end of the 9th century, the territory or
pieve of Mantino depended on the lords
Loretesi. They were driven out in 1072 by the Da Furiani,
Aschesi or
Laschesi, aided by the
Marquis of Massa. In 1370, the
Republic of Genoa sent two governors to Corsica: Leonello Lomellino and Aluigi Toriorino. Shortly afterwards, considering the great expense and little profit in Corsica, the Republic decided to withdraw and no longer intervene in the affairs of the island. Nevertheless some Genoese gentlemen formed a partnership known as the
Maona to try and manage the economy on the island on behalf of the Republic of Genoa. The five partners were: Leonello Lomellino, Giovanni da Balagnera, Aluigi Tortorino, Andreolo Ficone, and Cristoforo Maruffo. They all came with the title of Governor and brought with them a thousand soldiers. After an expedition to Cinarca followed by a short period of peace, Leonello Lomellino returned as governor and to gain an advantage over the Count
Arrigo della Rocca with whom he would have to fight, he began by fortifying
Aléria. " Then Count Arrigo and his allies once again crossed the mountains and made incursions against Cap Corse: having met no resistance, they went to besiege Aléria which capitulated after four months. Leonello, deprived of all support, returned to
Biguglia and from there he went to build the castle of Bastia to maintain his sea communications". :"Between the second half of the 12th century and the middle of the 13th century the feudal system was in place at all levels of society and new links were created between the elite of the aristocracy and the
Maritime republics, between representatives of the island's nobility, and between them and the poor. At the same time castles multiplied. They were then owned by fifteen noble families of local or peninsular origin, sometimes fragmented into independent lordships or even [sic] rivals: , Amondaschi, Cortinchi, Pinaschi de Coasini, Lotreto de Nebbio, Loreto de Casinca, Orezza, Avogari, Camilla, Turca, Pevere, de Mari (from the mid-13th century only), and the
Marquis de Massa and Corsica". – Daniel Istria –
Powers and fortifications in northern Corsica 11th – 14th Century, p. 145 According to Giovanni della Grossa, the "seigneurialisation" of Loreto would have been, as with Genoese families of the Cape, usurping the County title acquired during the "people's government". Small lordships that emerged from the courts of the Bishop of Nebbio, probably sometime in the second half of the 12th century or the beginning of the 13th century, were partly absorbed by the lords of Bagnaia before 1247. Then, before 1289, they were recovered and absorbed, like many others in the new lordship of Giovanninello de Loreto. Taking advantage of the Genoese-pisano rivalries, he extended his possessions to the east and west. Written documentation illustrates the business of territorial conquest conducted by Giovanninello during the years 1260–1280. After raiding the castles of Nebbio and Pureto in the
Ostriconi, he went on to the conquest of the pieve of
Orto, which was then under the control of Bagnaia, and he built two new fortifications: Montebello and Petra di Bugno. These were intended not only to dominate and control the northern part of Bagnaia, whose Cerlino Lake had a certain economic interest, but probably also to neutralise Porto Cardo, which occupied a strategic military position as well as having businesses. It was here that the fortress of Bastia was erected, the residence of the Genoese governors from the 15th century. The agreements between Giovanninello and the commune of Genoa in 1289 demonstrated the importance of this baronial control of land routes and anchorages, a major source of revenue and a guarantee of the security of the territory.
Originally Cardo Before the occupation of Corsica by the Genoese there were several communities of the pieve of
Orto: Soverta, La Vetrice, Belgodere, Astima, and Le Corbaia. All these villages have today almost disappeared. On the coast there was a small hamlet inhabited by fishermen called Porto Cardo which means "Cardo Port".
Modern times In the 16th and 17th centuries, the
Franciscans settled in the Pieve of Orto. At the beginning of the 16th century, Monseigneur Agostino
Giustiniani, Bishop of Nebbio, described in his
Dialogo nominato Corsica: :"[...] The pieve of
Orto is almost ruined; it contains 340
fires. In this piève is Biguglia with a convent of
Friars Minor [...]. With Biguglia there are still these pièves: Furiani, Belgodere, Soverta, La Vetrice, and Corbaia; nowadays, all these villages have almost disappeared." – Agostino Giustiniani in
Description of Corsica, translation by Lucien Auguste Letteron in
History of Corsica, Bulletin of the Society for Historical and Natural Sciences of Corsica – Volume I – 1888, p. 50. Continuing, he writes: :"It is in this piève Bastia lies, home to the Bishop and Governor of Corsica. Before the last war this city had 700 houses divided into two districts: Terranova and Terravecchia. There was formerly in this place a castle or tower, or rather a fortress of the kind called on the continent
Bastie [...]. Terravecchia was an open area which is now burned and ruined largely as a result of the war. The land is very steep on the lower slopes and walking is very painful; on the other hand the Terranova area is generally flat, with fairly wide streets and many modern houses. It is surrounded not only by a solid wall, which forms a continuous enclosure, but a wide and deep moat and magnificent bastions. The wall was begun in the time of Tomasino de Campofregoso, then lord of the island, and completed later through the efforts of the
Bank of Saint George. The bastions and the moat were made by that same bank and by the Genoese government during the last war. The bank has added a very beautiful citadel but the benefits do not match the expense it required during its construction; it cost, in fact, 25,000
ducats. Bastia has two convents of
Friars Minor, one of
Recollects, and the other
Capuchin. This city, being the governor's residence, prospered greatly but it also had much to suffer in recent wars. Although the main centre on the island many people were of the opinion that its importance will hardly increase. The first reason they give is that the population of the city is composed of Genoese and Corsicans: the Genoese, from Rivières, belong to the lower class. Most Corsicans also belonged in this class. There is a jealousy and rivalry between the inhabitants of Bastia so great that few mind the interests of the city: they apply themselves only to deceit and to oust each other and that is where we get all the evil. The second reason is that the city has no port. It has in fact a small bay where it is possible to relax on small boats. On the other hand, houses, until now, have been very poorly distributed. There is not one that has a stable nor even a well or a cistern, so that it is necessary to fetch water from the fountain outside. Also in summer the water is very hot because it comes from far away via an
aqueduct. :The cellars are far from being good. Bastia is built on a rocky ground, where ducts and sewers can be dug only with great difficulty. The city has no pleasant walks and is also very exposed to the West Wind which sometimes lasts for eight or ten days, so we can not leave home because the wind is so strong that it shakes the houses. What is more advantageous for Bastia is to be near fertile country that produces some wine, such as at Cap Corse, and elsewhere wheat, as on the higher pièves. There is a at the doorstep and only a short distance from Piombino and other mainland locations. It is for these reasons, and not for others, that the Board has chosen Bastia to make the residence of its governors: because there is nowhere on the island where the governor would be better off than at Bastia". – Agostino Giustiniani in
Description of Corsica, translation by Lucien Auguste Letteron in
History of Corsica. He ends his description as follows: :"There were still in the piève of Orto two small villages with the main pieve church dedicated to Saint Mary. These two villages and the church were ruined after the last
plague and also because of the negligence of the piévans. After Porraggia comes Punta d'Arco and the Chiurlino Lake, about ten miles long, which can be entered only by very small boats. In this lake is an island, where there is good hunting for
wild boar. This place is called the island. There are also two other small islands where fishermen stay: one is called
Ischia nova which became famous in the recent wars and the other is called
Ischia Vacchia. There is fishing in this lake for
cephalic (cefalu or mazzardi),
mullet (muggini), and other fish that make excellent
Botargo. These fish and eels are taken in large quantities and serve as ordinary food for the inhabitants of Bastia, not to mention the fish that comes from the pièves of Orto, Mariana and Mercurio. Then comes the Port of Lo Pino then the Gulf of Bastia, which is called
Portocardo by the sailors. There is then the Ruisseau de S. Nicolas, then successively the Port of Toga, Grigione, the port and Ruisseau di Pietranera where there is a tower." – Agostino Giustiniani in
Description of Corsica, translation by Lucien Auguste Letteron in
History of Corsica.
The Genoese era The Genoese soon felt the need to protect Bastia from invasions coming from the sea and began to build a bastiglia (moat) and a citadel in the time of governor Leonello Lomellini. Over time, the
Bastiglia (Bastia) has grown, become prosperous, and become more important than Cardo. Its history is in its "bastiglia" or citadel which was originally a walled city. Here it was the sea and the mountains that determined the location of habitations as well as the relief of the island. Bastia was the capital at the time of the Genoese domination. It spread to the slopes later, drawn toward the water in the
Place Saint-Nicolas. Created by the Genoese patrician Leonello Lomellini in 1353 to liaise with Genoa, the city originated on the roack where a tower was built (a
bastiglia, hence its name) and, a hundred years later, was surrounded by walls. At the beginning of the 18th century, many improvements were made in the Punta district, where many shops were built. Bastia and the whole island came under French military domination on 8 May 1769. In 1794, during a war with
Revolutionary France, British troops under
Admiral Nelson and Lieutenant-General
David Dundas briefly
captured Bastia. In 1848, Bastia took 44 hectares from
Ville-di-Pietrabugno.
Heraldry ==Geography==