Opposite the Governors’ Palace, within the citadel, is the Zerbi house. To this day, it is one of the few residences in the city where at least one member of the original family lives there continuously. A look back at the history of a unique family from Bastia
Notre-Dame Street to the Bastia citadel, ocher-colored facade and almond green shutters, the Zerbi house blends harmoniously with the Mediterranean tones that surround it. Recognized for their know-how in the manufacture of draperies and silks, the Zerbi family also had important administrative functions. It was entered in the Golden Book of the Republic of Genoa, “without competing with mastodons like Doria, Grimaldi or Spinola”, explains Germaine de Zerbi.
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Arrived at the XVe century in Saint-Florent, the Genoese of origin then prospered in the leasing of salt tax (taxes levied on all products). Then come responsibilities to extend their influence in the region. Pellegro was the first to arrive in Bastia and distinguished himself by his function as prior of the brotherhood of Sainte-Croix. The future residence of the family was built in 1490 and was completed five years later. It was until then the place of residence of the vicar, second in the Genoese administration behind the governor, and also served as a tribunal. Civil and criminal cases were pleaded there. The building was then ceded to the Centurione, one of whose members, probably Lorenzo, was doge of the Republic of Genoa and governor of Corsica.
1613, the beginning of the story
The first Zerbi to add its name to the house facing the Governors’ Palace was Paolo, who bought it in 1613. “He is one of the symbols of the integration of the Genoese elites into Corsican society”. Very quickly, Paolo sought to make his house an essential place in the citadel of Bastia. Not feeling safe, he tried to fortify his residence. He asks the Genoese authorities to raise his house. Loopholes, a guard tower and a chapel are also part of the requisitions. His request, however, is perceived on the other side of the Alps as daring. His family is considered infidels of the Republic of Genoa and an ancestor was hanged in Saint-Florent.
Paolo Zerbi wins his case all the same since the building is raised by two floors, up to the belvedere, the highest point of the house. Impetuous, he continues to make his own and stands up to the Genoese governor. He is even suspected of murder. As such, he was banished to one of the fortresses of Balagne, in Algajola, but ended up being released a few months later. On the death of Paolo in 1635, the Zerbi will extend their influence to Bastia in order to become more than “simple local notables”. Ten family members will occupy the role of podesta (equivalent to the mayor) in 150 years, fourteen times. This is the name that has most often occupied this role in the history of the city.
An influence that is gradually crumbling
Their political influence gradually diminished at the beginning of the 18th century.e century. The final blow, an ancestor with eyes bigger than the belly squandered the capital amassed for several decades, reducing to nothing the efforts made by his elders. The first floor was the first sold and the third will be sold in the 1940s. Only the second is still today under the Zerbi fold, Germaine and her brother Jean-Louis occupying the two apartments upstairs.
Located on the ground floor, the Sampiero restaurant has been “about forty years”. A grocery store was once established there.
The 160 m apartments2 of the house are full of some vestiges of yesteryear. On the first floor, between the walls of a young couple’s rental, nestles a curiosity. What looks like a basin, the origin of which is unknown to this day, blends in perfectly with the decor: “ This is the first thing I saw while visiting. We found it completely by chance. It was moved very little to make the formwork because the object is so heavy and unwieldy “, explains the current tenant. “We admire it but we don’t really know what it is, the basin must be vintage”exclaims Germaine de Zerbi.
Another specificity, a statuette of the virgin to which “cared very much for the Zerbi family” suffered damage. Today it sits above one of the two apartments on the second floor. To protect their house from the Anglo-Sardinian bombings of 1745, the Zerbi family placed the statue on a window sill.
The story goes that an English cannonball destroyed the arm of the baby Jesus, serving as a shield and sparing the house. The casa Zerbi remains to this day one of the very few houses in Bastia inhabited continuously by the original family.
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