Sartène

Sartène (Corsican: Sartè) is a town in South Corsica. Is one of the few Corsican towns that does not overlook the coast and is located 14 km (8.7 mi) from Propriano. It's the site to a hospital located 5 km (3.1 mi) from the city center on the D 21.

Understand

History

Dominated by families of the Corsican nobility who owned the cultivable lands, it enjoyed great splendor in the Late Middle Ages. Feudalism frustrated the independentist pushes of Sampiero Corso and Pasquale Paoli in Sartène, determining the city alignment in favor first of Genoa and then of France. It underwent pirate raids in 1583 by the Barbary people who devastated it and enslaved 400 inhabitants in 1732, when the whole surrounding area was devastated. In 1768 it became part of France. During the years 1830-1840 there were fierce clashes between the people and the nobility.

Visitor informations

Get in

By plane

By car
  • Sartène is crossed by the T40 which connects Bonifacio to Ajaccio.
  • From Porto-Vecchio take the D859. Continue until the junction with the T40, then turn right towards Sartène-Propriano-Ajaccio and continue until Sartène.

By bus

A daily bus service allows you to reach Sartène from Ajaccio, Propriano, Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio.

Get around

The city can be easily explored by foot.

See
  • 🌍 Place de la Libération (In the town center). Formerly Place Porta (a very welcoming place where the inhabitants meet to discuss, mainly politics). There was the guillotine there. There the men of "good birth", the Sgios, argued. At the foot of the church, at dawn, the peasants were waiting for job offers. This shaded square, very lively with its market and cafes, faces southwest/northeast. It is dominated to the north by the town hall, the former governor's palace under Genoese occupation, and by Église Sainte-Marie, a characteristic Corsican church (with its three-level bell tower with bays and surmounted by a dome). At its southern end there is an esplanade, Pasquale Paoli square where the bust of the Babbu di a patria has been enthroned since 8 December 2006. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Regional museum of prehistoric Corsica and archeologie, Boulevard Jacques Nicolaï, ☏ +33 4 95 77 01 09. October-May: Tu-Sa 10:00-17:00; June-September: M-Su 10:00-18:00. Inside the museum you can see in particular:
A room dedicated to statue-steles.
A chronological presentation of the Neolithic settlements of Corsica through objects from the lithic industry, metallurgy or ceramics.
Part of the Roman gold coins from the Lava hoard.
A documentation center and a conference room. €4.00, Reduced €2.50. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Église Sainte-Marie. The church was built in 1766 to replace the previous one, which collapsed the previous year. The construction of the bell tower began two years later. The religious building is classified as a Historic Monument. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Église San Damiano. Neoclassical style church, built in 1766. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Sartène Watchtower (Échauguette de Sartène), Avenue Gabriel-Péri. The watchtower of Sartène is the symbol of this very picturesque town. Located in the Place de Guardiola, it dates from the end of the 16th century. It was the only element of the defensive bastion formed by the Pietraggio district. It is listed as a historical monument. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Town Hall (Hôtel de Ville). Historical monument. The building is registered as a historic monument with the decree of 8 March 1991. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Spin' a Cavallu bridge. This Pisan then Genoese bridge of the XIII and XV century over the Rizzanese is called A spin'a cavallu (literally "in the shape of a horse's back"). It would be the work of the architect Maestro Maternato. 64 m (210 ft) long and 2.60 m (8.5 ft) wide, it rises 8 m (26 ft) above the water and is one of the most famous bridges in Corsica, connecting the pièves of La Rocca and Sartène. It offers to admire a beautifully balanced architecture. Listed as a Historic Monument in 1992. Restored in 1995 after the floods of the Rizzanese and Fiumicicoli rivers, it is a typical Pisan bridge (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Tizzano Fort (Fortin de Tizzano). This ruined fort defended the entrance to Cala di Tizzano, a small sheltered port for local fishermen. This small stronghold was deployed in the second half of the 18th century from a 16th century Genoese tower. It is listed as a historical monument. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Cauria (On the homonymous plateau). Here are located the dolmen of Fontanaccia, the alignment of Stantari and that of Renaju. These alignments of statue-menhirs are classified as Historic Monuments. (updated Jan 2023)
    • 🌍 Fontanaccia dolmen. The dolmen is made up of six lateral orthostats, three of which come from the same fissured slab. All slabs have been regularised. The room measures 4 m2 (43 ft²). The slab fragments visible in front of the entrance could correspond to the closing slab. It has been classified as a historic monument since 1889. (updated Jan 2023)
    • 🌍 Stantari. Dated to the Bronze Age between 1500 and 1000 BC. The two orders of stones, dated BC, consist of more than 20 standing menhirs or statue menhirs.

Its front faces east. Long hidden under an ancient wall, the stones were excavated by Roger Grosjean in 1964. The two statues in the northern part of the stone row, named by Grosjean as "Cauria II" (2.78 m (9.1 ft) high) and "Cauria IV" (2.91 m (9.5 ft) high) from the nearby village of Cauria, are among the largest in Corsica. They are the only menhir statues with indicated arms and hands. A "dagger sword" is recognized as an attribute, which is carried in a hook on the chest with a shoulder strap. A kind of loincloth is attached to the sword, forming a curved line pattern on the back of the menhir.

The vertical incisions on the back are interpreted as the back or straps of the sword hook. Of interest are the two indentations (7 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep) on the sides of the head above the forehead. According to Grosjean, they were used to attach horns, so it's a bucranion. Traces of red paint on Cauria II and IV indicate, among other things, that these and other menhir statues were painted with red ochre. The two statues have been compared with representations of the Sea Peoples of Egypt in terms of clothing and armament and taken as an indication that the Shardana came from Sardinia, as the "Torre people" culture depicted on Cauria II and IV shows parallels with that of Sardinia at the same time. (updated Jan 2023)

    • 🌍 Rinaghju. The 46 menhirs of the double north-south row and of the adjacent semicircle have been raised and stand in a small holm oak wood at the foot of the Cauria rocks. The row of stones dates from Megalithic II or the Early Bronze Age (3000-1000 BC). Most of the menhirs are less than 1 m (3.3 ft) high. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Baricci Castle (Casteddu di Baricci). (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Paddaghju. The alignments are organized into seven groups, six oriented north-south and one east-west. All the menhirs are carved in the shape of a human silhouette (although none have clear minds), most being roughly rough-hewn. The three statue-stelae have swords engraved and two have daggers, other presumed engravings could be anatomical attributes.

Funeral coffers have also been discovered. Only one is still preserved, partially inviolate, it contained furniture from the early Bronze Age which is now in the museum of Sartène. Aligned domes are visible on one of its uprights. Some authors see in them stellar representations or a motif linked to the cult of water, these domes perhaps allow rainwater to be collected with magical virtues.

The menhirs were erected between 1900 and 1000 BC. The site was first listed in 1889 by Étienne Michon, who counted sixty to seventy menhirs there, divided into two groups. Giraux discovered another dozen in 1914. Roger Grosjean carried out various excavation campaigns from 1964 to 1968 and brought the number of discovered monoliths and three stele-statues to 255, which led him to qualify the site as a "laboratory of Corsican megalithism".

The site is classified as a historic monument by order of 23 October 1974. (updated Jan 2023)

  • 🌍 U Frate è a Sora. These menhirs were first described by Prosper Mérimée in his Notes d'un voyage en Corse, published in 1840. The place was then called I Stantari. In the section entitled "Menhirs of Rizzanesu", Mérimée describes her visit to the Friars is in Sora: "Two other menhirs, but aligned, are about a league from Sartène, on the left bank of the Rizzanesu and near the road to Propriano. The place it is called I Stantari. The two stones are inclined towards each other. The largest, three meters high, is a little wider at the bottom than at the top, it seems broken by chance. It is approximately square, the side measures about 0.85 m (2.8 ft). The other stone, of the same size, does not exceed 1.60 m (5.2 ft). The two menhirs are 0.50 m (1.6 ft) apart. Between the two standing menhirs there is a third, almost larger than the previous two, but resting on the ground.It could also be a fragment of one of the two menhirs. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Roccapina tower (Torra di Roccapina) (22 km (14 mi) south from Sartena on the road to Bonifacio). This Genoese tower is characterized by its rocks (the Lion of Roccapina), its small bay (Cala di Roccapina), its beach of very fine sand and its Genoese tower. The 17th century tower is classified as a Historic Monument. (updated Jan 2023)
  • 🌍 Senetosa tower (Torra di Senetosa). The tower is located at an altitude of 129 m (423 ft) on the Capu di Senetosa promontory.

The tower was built in 1610. It was one of a series of coastal defenses built by the Republic of Genoa between 1530 and 1620 to stem attacks by Barbary pirates. In 1992, the tower was listed as an official historical monument of France.

Since 1979, the tower has been owned and maintained by the French government agency, the Conservatoire du littoral. The agency plans to purchase 2,378 hectares (5,880 acres) of the promontory and in 2011 had acquired 2,333 hectares (5,760 acres). (updated Jan 2023)

  • 🌍 Senetosa lighthouse. The Senetosa lighthouse was built behind the Corsican lighting schedule. It was designed by engineer Zevaco. Work began in 1889 and the lighthouse was lit on May 15, 1892 with a white light flashing every 5 seconds.

Originally fueled by mineral oil, this fire switched fuel in 1906 to petroleum vapor. The lighthouse was later electrified and automated in 1988. It no longer has a keeper as of spring 2008.

At the end of 2011, the Senetosa lighthouse was the first lighthouse to pass under the responsibility of the Conservatoire du littoral, as part of the transfer of the management of some sixty state lighthouses to the conservatory decided in 2011. (updated Jan 2023)

Do

Events
  • Procession of Catenacciu. In March or April. It's the procession with the representation of the Passion of Christ that takes place during Good Friday (Venneri Santu or Vennaressantu in corsican). A man impersonates Jesus who has to carry a cross weighing about 30 kg (66 lb) and has a chain tied to his bare feet; the helper travels 1.8 km (1.1 mi) and must fall three times along the way, like Christ. (updated Jan 2023)

Buy

Eat

There is a large number of restaurants in the city including:

Drink

There are many bars and coffee shops in Sartène.

Sleep

Stay safe

Stay healthy

Connect
  • 🌍 Post office (La Poste), Rue Nicolas Pietri. M 8:30-12:00 & 14:00-16:30, Tu-F 8:30-12:00 & 14:00-17:00, Sa 9:00-12:00. (updated Jan 2023)

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