Who really knows the history of Bastia? Watching Petru-Paulu de Casabianca’s documentary, this question can be answered easily. Especially when we delve into the anecdotes around the city: Bastia is not a Genoese city but founded mainly by Corsicans, the church of conception was the seat of the parliament of the kingdom of Corsica where the God Save the Kingthe Sainte-Croix church has a unique style in France, the tower visible on the city’s emblem is not part of the network of Genoese towers.
The 52-minute documentary titled Bastia, who’s history!, to tell the history of the city of Bastia, in Corsican, from its foundation to the present day, focuses on all these periods. This is the challenge of Petru-Paulu de Casabianca, who wrote and directed this film with the ambition of popularizing a story often unknown to the inhabitants themselves, but also of countering preconceived ideas.
The work, produced by Dominique Tiberi, will be broadcast on TéléPaese at the beginning of the year. It brings together Antoine-Marie Graziani, Jean-Marc Olivesi, Sylvie Casalta, Philippe Peretti and Sébastien Celeri, historians, an architect but also a tour guide to delve into the small and big stories that made the city: “I am a child of Bastia, would like to recall Petru-Paulu de Casabianca, a 46-year-old teacher at the college of Biguglia. I studied the history of Corsica a lot. And I’ve been thinking about making this documentary on Bastia for a while now. I always had the impression that the people of Basti did not know the history of their city well. My idea was to popularize something little known.”
“Bastia is a unique town in Corsica”
The film begins at the end of the 14th century, when the city was founded, and ends in the present day. From terra nova to terra vecchia, he wants to break the clichés: “Bastia is a unique city in Corsica. There is a majority of Corsicans there, from its foundation. We are far from the image of a Genoese city. Bastia is also a city which has more churches than in Rome in the 17th century, during the Baroque era. Jean-Marc Olivesi explains it very well. He also emphasizes the rivalries that exist between the Bastia neighborhoods to decorate their churches. We discover priceless treasures there. There are also these two cities who turn their backs on each other. First terra nova and terra vecchia then the city center of Bastia and the southern districts.”
The director also wants to explore the soul of the city through the changes that have occurred over time: “There are questions about these changes which could have led to losing a little of the soul of the city.” A bridge between the centuries to give another vision of Bastia.
2024-01-04 16:41:19
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