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Of the seven Corsican citadels, the Citadel of Corte is the only one built inland and its three levels of defence make it an exceptional site in Europe. It was built in two stages: in 1419, Vincentello d'lstria had the Castle (or Eagle's Nest) built on top of the rock overlooking the town. In 1769, under the orders of the Count of Vaux, French troops began the construction of the citadel itself.

The citadel is the first sight of travellers, whether they come from Bastia, Aleria or Ajaccio, and is the symbol of the town of Corte. But it was also for the French army of the 18th century a goal to be reached, an ultimate goal, a utopia to be achieved: to build an impregnable citadel in the centre of Corsica. Its construction, a real technical feat, took 350 years. The citadel, as it exists today, is based on a pre-existing construction: a medieval castle built by a Corsican nobleman, Vincentello d'Istria. Proclaimed Viceroy of Corsica by the King of Aragon, he had the castle of Corti - u Castellu - built in 1419 to dominate Central Corsica and with it the whole island. What about the occupation of the site before this date? The results of future archaeological operations will allow us to determine this more precisely. In 1768, the "provisional" cession of the island of Corsica to France by the Genoese during the Treaty of Versailles and the defeat of the Corsican patriots at Ponte Novu in 1769 triggered a new transformation for Corte. As soon as they arrived, the French troops planned to build a citadel as an extension of the castellu, according to the principles of the bastioned fortification defined by Vauban. The French army saw Corte as a strategic place. Symbolically, it also allowed it to take power in the Pauline capital. In addition to the construction of the enclosure, a new fortified town of gigantic dimensions was envisaged. Too expensive and oversized, it was quickly abandoned and the French Revolution in 1789 put an end to this dream of a new town: Corte had to make do with the fortified upper town, which kept the name "citadel". No doubt it was utopian to think that a siege army could bring its cannons to Corte... But the Citadel was never attacked and its fine defences were never used. Excessive, the result of the blindness of the military engineers and a technocratic administration, the citadel of Corte is still standing, solid and marks the territory, the minds and the hearts. Grandiose in its appearance and ambition, it is unique in France and in Europe. In the 1990s, one of its barracks was transformed and the northern bastion was excavated to house the Museum of Corsica; the Regional Fund for Contemporary Art also took up residence in the Padua barracks. These new cultural facilities in the historic enclosure of the site reinforce its cultural dimension and its influence in the city and on the island. Since 2019, the Citadel of Corte has been the subject of a global project of requalification Citadella XXI, mixing architecture, heritage and creation. It should enable it to be fully reintegrated into its territory, making it even more attractive and providing economic, urban and tourist development.

Corte

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