The road to Bastia, after passing the Travo, 44 m., Vicchiseri, 46 m., and Casamozza, 48½ m., arrives at the railway station of
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BASTIA 53 50 GHISONACCIA pop. 850. On the Fium Orbo, 36 m. S.E. from Corté. From this a department road of 4½ m. leads to the [hot sulphurous baths of Pietrapola], with a large hotel in a healthy situation.
From Ghisonaccia a carriage road extends N.W. to the villages of [Poggio-di-Nazza], 9½ m., and [Lugo-di-Nazza], 11½ m. From Ghisonaccia railway station a forest road extends 18 m. N.W. to Ghisoni, where it joins the high road between Sartène and Vivario ([p. 29]). The southern prolongation of this road leads to Zicavo, Petreto, Bicchisano, and [Portopollo], on the Gulf of Valinco.
Forty-six m. from Bastia is Casabianda. H. Perett; a village situated on a well-cultivated estate belonging to the government; formerly used as an agricultural penitentiary for juvenile criminals. In the hot season it is safer to pass the night at Casabianda than at Aleria.
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BASTIA 58¼ 44¾ ALERIA. Inn. The capital of Corsica till the invasion of the Saracens in the 4th cent., now a poor village with an old Genoese fort, situated at the mouth of the Tavignano, 1¼ m. from the Etang de Diane. Ancient Aleria, the colony founded by the dictator Sulla about 82 B.C., occupied both banks of the Tavignano, which waters one of the finest plains in the world, where winter is unknown. The site of the town was well selected. The population was probably 20,000.
It was at Aleria that [Theodore Neuhoff], a native of Altona, in Germany, landed to have himself proclaimed King of Corsica, March 1736. He died a pauper in London, and was buried in an obscure corner of St. Anne’s churchyard, Soho. On a mural tablet against the exterior wall, west end, is the following epitaph written by Horace Walpole:—“Near this place is interred Theodore, King of Corsica, who died in this parish, Dec. 11, 1756, immediately after leaving the King’s Bench prison, by the benefit of the Act of Insolvency. In consequence of which, he registered his kingdom of Corsica for the use of his creditors.” His capital was [Cervione]. The [lake de Diane] is a great sheet of salt water with one narrow opening to the sea. It formed the harbour of Aleria, and was provided with quays, of which a vestige still remains. The lake contains an island 460 yards in circumference, composed of oyster shells covered with luxurious vegetation. Fish, and a cockle a species of Venerupis, inhabit the brackish water of the lake.