Cargèse is a French commune, located in the departmental district of Corse-du-Sud and the territory of the community of Corsica. It belongs to the ancient parish of Sevinfuori, in the Deux-Sevi.
The Genoese towers
The coast of Cargese includes three
remarkable peaks, Punta d'Orchinu, Punta d'Omigna and Punta di
Cargèse, which are each topped by a Genoese watchtower. They were
built in the 16th century by the people of Paomia, Revinda and
Salona, who took refuge in Renno, by order of Genoa, in order to
protect themselves from the Barbarians who were beginning to raid
the island's coasts.
Orchinu Tower
It is the northernmost
Genoese tower in the commune, built 172 m on the tip of Orchinu. It
is ruined.
Omigna Tower
It is a round tower twelve meters
high, on two levels with a terrace, built at the end of the tip of
Omigna during the second half of the sixteenth century, in order to
protect from arable pirates the arable land of the coast. It was
part of the so-called Four Towers land and was built by the people
of Paomia, Revinda and Salona, refugees in Renno.
Formerly
called the Tower of Paomia, the Tower of Omigna was on April 27,
1731, the last entrenchment for 127 Greeks attacked by 2,500
revolted Corsicans. After three days of siege, they manage to break
free and join their family in Ajaccio.
The Omigna Tower is
classified as a historic monument by decree of March 8, 1991.
Cargèse Tower
The tower of Cargèse, of which only the base
remains, is located at an altitude of 157 m to the west of the
village, at the top of the hill overlooking the village, between it
and Punta di Cargèse.
Church of St. Spyridon called "Greek"
The Greek Church of St. Spyridon (San Spiridionu) is a Greek Greek
Catholic church dedicated to St. Spyridon, a second-century Cypriot
bishop and patron saint of sailors. This church replaced the chapel
established in 1775 in one of the houses of the Greek colony.
It was built by the inhabitants of Cargèse from 1868 to 1874.
The sanctuary is separated from the nave by a wooden partition
decorated with holy images on a gold background (iconostasis). You
can admire beautiful icons brought by the first inhabitants.
In 1846, the Greek colony, which numbered 525 people, expressed its
desire to have a church that could accommodate all the faithful of
the Greek rite. The building, inspired by the neo-Gothic style, was
built in the last third of the nineteenth century. It has a front
façade supported by buttresses and crowned by a bell tower on the
panel. The bedside table is flat. The interior consists of a single
nave separated from the sanctuary by an iconostasis. The iconostasis
separating the nave from the sanctuary is the work of a Roman
workshop for the church of the monastery of Santa Maria di
Grottaferrata. It was offered to the Greek church of Cargèse in 1886
by Bishop Simeoni, prefect of the Congregation "Propaganda Fide".
The walls are pierced with thirteen flat-bottomed niches, inscribed
in broken arches. The decor is neo-classical.
Elevation, roof
and interior decoration are protected and classified as historic
monuments by decree of June 30, 1990.
Church of the
Assumption called "Latin"
Also called St. Mary's Church, the
Church of the Assumption (Santa Marìa Assunta) was built in the
nineteenth century, from 1822 to 1828, to meet the needs of the
Catholic population of Latin rite.
The so-called "Latin"
church is a parish church. It was built with the funds raised by
subscription launched in 1817. In 1835 it was badly damaged by a
violent storm. In 1837 the extension of the church and the
construction of the high altar were considered. In 1845, the
interior arrangements were still not completed. Between 1970 and
1975, the painted decoration of the nave was made. Between 1992 and
1997, the choir was decorated by two Russian painters, Anastassiya
Sokolova and Valeri Chernernitsky. The church has a front façade
chanted with flat pilasters and crowned with an undulating pediment.
Her bedside table is rounded. It has two side chapels. The
Baroque-style interior is decorated with trompe-l'oeil paintings.
This church with a quadrangular bell tower is built on a terrace
overlooking the Gulf of Sagone. It faces the Greek church.
In
1847 - 1748, the multi-storey bell tower was built, topped by an
oculus lantern. The bell tower, whose bells were executed in 1887 by
the bell founder Ferdinand Farnier, is protected and listed as a
Historic Monument by order of 13 February 1989.
Other
religious heritages
Chapel of St. Mary in the hamlet of
Rundulinu, Paomia, on the roadside D 181.
Cargèse (Corsican: Carghjese) is a village located on the west coast
of Corsica, France, overlooking the Gulf of Sagone. Its history is
deeply intertwined with Corsica's complex past under Genoese and later
French rule. Prior to the arrival of Greek settlers, the area around
what would become Cargèse consisted of scattered hamlets and was part of
the Province of Vico, a region with a rugged landscape similar to parts
of the Mediterranean mainland. Corsica itself had ancient Greek
influences dating back to classical antiquity, when it was colonized by
Phocaeans around the 6th century BCE, but these had long faded by the
17th century.
The Greek Migration and Arrival (1675–1676)
The
unique character of Cargèse stems from a wave of Greek immigrants from
the Mani Peninsula in the southern Peloponnese, Greece. In the late 17th
century, the Maniots faced increasing oppression under Ottoman rule,
which had intensified after the Ottomans captured Crete in 1669 and
fortified areas like Kelefa in 1670. Heavy taxation, persecution, and
clan feuds, combined with a lack of arable land, prompted emigration.
Residents of Oitylo (modern Oitylos), a key Maniot village, negotiated
with the Republic of Genoa, which controlled Corsica at the time.
In
October 1675, approximately 730 Maniots, led by the Stephanopoulos
(later Stephanopoli) family, departed Oitylo aboard ships bound for
Genoa. The group included Bishop Parthenios Kalkandis of Vitylo, five
priests, twelve monks, several nuns, and numerous families—reflecting a
high proportion of clergy. Tragically, about 120 died during the voyage.
After a brief stop in Genoa, the survivors arrived in Corsica on March
14, 1676. They pledged loyalty to Genoa and the Pope but retained their
Greek Orthodox (Byzantine Rite) traditions.
The Paomia Settlement
(1676–1731)
The settlers were granted land in a dry, arid area 4 km
east of modern Cargèse, at an elevation of 450 meters on a hillside
overlooking the Gulf of Sagone—terrain reminiscent of their Mani
homeland. They named the settlement Paomia, reviving five abandoned
hamlets: Pancone, Corone, Rondolino, Salici, and Monte-Rosso. By July
1676, the community numbered around 520 people. They built or restored
seven small churches and a monastery at Salici, dedicated to Saint
Martin. The main church in Rondolino was consecrated to Our Lady of the
Assumption.
Initially prosperous, the Greeks farmed, raised
livestock, and traded, but tensions with local Corsicans quickly
emerged. The natives viewed the newcomers as intruders on their
ancestral lands and allies of the Genoese oppressors. Disputes over
resources led to armed confrontations, including a 1715 attack by a gang
from nearby Vico, which the Greeks repelled. The situation worsened
during the Corsican uprising against Genoa in 1729. Remaining loyal to
Genoa, the Greeks became targets; their homes were looted and burned. By
April 1731, after 55 years, approximately 700 survivors abandoned Paomia
and fled to Ajaccio, the island's capital.
Refuge in Ajaccio
(1731–1775)
In Ajaccio, the Greeks constituted about 20% of the
city's 3,200 inhabitants. They were housed in the church of La Madonna
del Carmine, later known as the Chapelle des Grecs. Genoa employed
around 200 Greek men as town guards, providing some stability. Less
isolated than in Paomia, they began intermarrying with locals, learning
the Corsican language, and gradually abandoning traditional dress.
However, violence persisted, and Genoa's financial difficulties led to
unpaid wages after 1744, with the guard disbanded in 1752.
This
prompted further emigration: some families moved to Sardinia (e.g., 50
to Montresta in 1746), Menorca, or even Florida's New Smyrna colony. By
the 1773 census, only 428 Greeks remained in Ajaccio. The 1768 Treaty of
Versailles ceded Corsica to France, marking a turning point. The new
French governor, Comte de Marbeuf—a philhellene (admirer of Greek
culture)—took a personal interest in the refugees and advocated for
their resettlement.
Founding of Modern Cargèse (1775–1800)
In
1769, under Marbeuf's direction, construction began on a new village at
the Puntiglione headland, separating the Gulfs of Sagone and Peru.
France funded the building of 120 terraced houses, completed by 1775.
Led by George-Marie Stephanopoli, most Greeks relocated from Ajaccio to
the site, which was named Cargèse. By 1784, the population reached 386
Greeks. Marbeuf even constructed a large personal residence and garden
on the village's western edge.
The French Revolution (1789–1791)
brought renewed chaos, with attacks from neighboring villages amid civil
disorder. The Greeks repelled invaders but suffered losses; by 1792, 24
families returned to Ajaccio, selling their properties to Corsicans and
initiating a mixed Greek-Corsican community. Britain's brief occupation
of Corsica (1794–1796) under the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom saw further
unrest. In 1795, British viceroy Gilbert Elliot visited, noting about
500 residents in 114 families. Upon British withdrawal, attackers from
Vico destroyed the village, including Marbeuf's house. The inhabitants
fled to Ajaccio again but returned after French forces restored order in
1797, marking permanent resettlement.
19th and 20th Century
Developments
Political instability continued: In 1814, with the fall
of the First French Empire, locals seized Greek farmlands. During the
1830 July Revolution, potential attacks were averted by soldiers from
Ajaccio. The village's dual religious heritage became iconic with the
construction of two facing churches: the Latin Rite Church of the
Assumption (built 1825–1850) for those who adopted Catholicism, and the
Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Spyridon (1852–1876), preserving the
Byzantine Rite. The latter features icons brought from Greece in 1676
and frescos by Russian artist Nicolas Ivanoff (1928–1930), depicting the
colony's history.
Emigration accelerated in the late 19th century.
Between 1874 and 1876, 235 Greek speakers (out of 1,078 total residents
in 1872) moved to Sidi Merouane in Algeria, reducing Greeks to a
minority as Corsicans influxed. By 1934, only 20 Greek speakers
remained; the last died in 1976, exactly 300 years after the initial
arrival. Factors in this slow assimilation included the colony's size,
strong religious institutions, and ongoing antagonism with Corsicans.
The population peaked at 1,216 in 1896 but declined to 665 by 1962 due
to emigration to mainland France.
Modern Legacy and Cultural
Fusion
Today, Cargèse has a population of around 1,325 (as of 2017),
bolstered by tourism. The Greek heritage endures through surnames like
Stephanopoli, Frimigacci, and Voglimacci; street names with Greek roots;
and the two churches, where services alternate between rites. A Greek
priest from Athens occasionally visits for Orthodox ceremonies. The
village symbolizes cultural fusion, with intermarriages blending Greek
and Corsican traditions while preserving distinct elements. Its history
of resilience against oppression, exile, and integration makes Cargèse a
unique "Greek hamlet" in France, attracting visitors interested in its
Mediterranean panorama and dual religious sites.