Cathy et Fred Armani
Bed & breakfast in South Corsica
From time immemorial Celavu (Gravona High-valley) was the object of an intense human occupation.
This soil which was the establishment area of a very old agro-agro-shepherd civilization,
or the temporary refuge against the invaders, conceals multiple prehistoric sites
still little known.
Carbuccia territory was as the bolt of this area. It's the reason why it has a lot of testimonys
of these times as the "Casteddu di Capu Retu", bronze age fortress perched on a rock piton which supervises
the plain , or a lot of rock shelters, formerly inhabited, which marks out the "maquis" (countryside).
If one doesn't know anything of the obscure corso-Romanp eriod , nor of the very high Medium-Age (some vaults ruins and a rich and specific toponymy), it is about the year Thousand that the current village is constituted, around a small fertile valley.
It remains however very few testimonys of this foundation, except the Sainte-Anne vault, rebuilt much later on the ruins of the Saint-Jaques church built in XIème century.
The oldests currently visible houses are from XVth century.
In spite of an agitated history (feudal wars, barbaresque incursions, fights against the genovese)
the village developed itself and knew its apogee with the XIXème siècle.
the current church is built in 1884 and the campaigns are developed (roads, mills, threshing floors...)
With a lot of human lost during the 1st mondial war, Carbuccia today is more than 300 inhabitants and thanks to its preserved environment (Corsican natural parc) it's a place to welcome tourists looking for nature.
Article by D. Polacci (october 2005)
