Classic house shapes in Corsica
The three classic house shapes on Corsica correspond to the three-part geological leveling of Corsica :
- 47% mountain region (over 450 m),
- 37% mountain area (100-450 m),
- 16% lowland (below 100 m).
Mountain region
In the high mountain region of Niolu , the permanent settlements and pastureland are on the sunny side (solanu) of the mountains, while on the shady side (umbriccia) mostly closed forest areas extend. Stand-alone, mostly three-storey box houses (maison bloc) made of roughly hewn granite with a rectangular floor plan stand out within the group settlements . The flat gable roof covered with fired hollow bricks protrudes only a little over the outer walls. People live in these houses while there are no economic functions. The reason lies in the economic system of the mountain dwellers who practice transhumance . The associated sheep farms (bergeries) in the summer and winter pasture areas, on the other hand, have primarily economic functions. Those family members who are not needed for livestock farming live in the permanent settlement and do horticulture for self-sufficiency.
Mountain country
The Castagniccia is a good example for the mountains . In the densely populated area there are chained tower houses with 5 to 6 storeys, which often occupy a high city location on mountain ridges or spurs . The closed group settlements give a defensive impression. They fulfilled similar functions as the Central European refuges , because the pirate attacks and the conquests in the high Middle Ages brought people together. The tower houses (casa torra) were built by a group of relatives and were their common property. Its masonry consists of unplastered slate rock , the flat saddle roof carries loosely laid slate shingles (Cors. Teghie). The cellar was used to store equipment and was a stable. The individual floors were intended for one family each. Upstairs there was a single large room with a central hearth (fucone); over which the hung sausages and ham were smoked and the chestnut stock was kept dry. Due to social restructuring (formation of small families, division of inheritance) or subsequent alterations, this original structural pattern was lost in many places.
The changed social structure during the Napoleonic era resulted in representative buildings (maison noble) mainly in the cantons. High-ranking people, who mostly worked on the mainland or in the colonies, had three- to four-storey buildings with an almost square floor plan erected as a retirement home. The architecture was initially based on the tower houses, from the middle of the 19th century on the Italian Renaissance.
Lowlands
The east Corsican coastal lowlands have only recently become a favored settlement area. Since the eradication of malaria in 1947, the coastal area has been increasingly used for agriculture. The increasing tourism has brought about the strongest changes in traditional house forms. Former Genoese feudal estates date from the High Middle Ages and were moved into by locals after the annexation by France in 1769. The appearance of the multi-storey houses (casoni) reflects the history of the lowlands. They protected against pirate attacks with defense tower-like additions. Their building material comes from the nearby river beds. For the Corsicans, until the eradication of malaria, these houses were only seasonal dwellings at the time of sowing and harvesting, or as winter quarters for the shepherds. When dairies were established and the focus of migrant sheep farming shifted to the winter grazing areas, settlements were built on the plain all year round. From the medieval individual settlements, group settlements developed with similarly powerful residential buildings, but without defense towers. As an example of a young group settlement , Ghisonaccia is considered to be a daughter settlement of Ghisoni , located in the mountains . The type of house that dominates there is called casa caporaline , a name that goes back to the Italian seasonal workers quartered here, whose leaders were the caporali.
Another type of house in the lowlands is the collective farm, mostly built of bricks and clay, which is noticeable with its rising and falling ridge line. Residential and stable buildings with tile or reed roofs are arranged one behind the other. The Genoese , rulers of the island from 1284 to 1768, had harbors and landing sites (marine) built, which served the trade along the coast and later benefited the Genoese export trade. These places are characterized by row houses with gable ends, the cellars of which served as storage rooms.
In the present, an unguided development of new buildings is visible at all altitudes in Corsica, which is no longer based on the old floor plan or even in the functional-structural area, since the abandonment of agricultural activity has made the concept of a house obsolete. Only in the last few years have efforts been made in Corsica, under the newly awakened influence of the homeland, to reconnect with the old rural building forms.
literature
- H. Lücke: Observations on the distribution, shape and change of traditional local and house forms on Corsica. In: Contributions to the cultural geography of the Mediterranean countries IV. Marburger Geographische Schriften H Marburg 1981.
- Paul Méjean: Notes sur la maison corse In: Revue de Géographie Alpine 1932 20-4 pp. 655–676