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This luxurious edifice is a particularly magnificent example of the mansions built in Bastia in the 19th century by people from the Cap corse area who had made a fortune in South America.

The palace was built between 1863 and 1866 on the initiative of the brothers André and Benoît Roncajolo who had become rich in the trade of import-export with Venezuela. Their ships served regular traffic between Marseilles and Maracaibo. Having made a huge fortune, they had the most glamorous palace in Marseille built, the Grand Hôtel du Louvre et de la Paix, on the Canebière. In the late 1860’s, the Roncajolo brothers sold their palace in Bastia to the trader Etienne-Louis Orenga, a relation of theirs by marriage. Various members of the family dwelt in the upper floors, but from January 1869 to December 1887, the whole first floor was rented by the State to be used as the sous-préfecture. On Saturday August 28th, 1869, Empress Eugénie was sumptuously received by the mayor of Bastia and the sous-préfet in that mansion, during a memorable official visit. The palace had been designed around an inner court. Its main façade, in neo-classic style, rises on four levels, with eleven bays of windows. It is crowned by a belvedere on the roof. The two side halls are decorated with marble columns and cast iron torchères. Those statues, from the art ironworks of Val d’Osne, have been made after a model by the sculptor Mathurin Moreau. Wide staircases lead to the apartments, the richest of which are ornamented with painted ceilings.

Bastia

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