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Origin and history

The Negro Genoese Tower, located on the Negru Navy in Olmeta-di-Capocorso, is a military building built in the 16th century, around 1559-1560. It is part of a network of coastal towers built by the Genoese to monitor the Mediterranean coasts and protect local populations, including fishermen and farmers in the Agriates. Its typical structure, with a blind base, a floor inhabited by the guards (i torregiani), and a crenellated terrace, reflects the defensive architecture of the era. The tower was financed and maintained by the inhabitants of Olmeta-di-Capocorso, highlighting its community role.

The tower presents a plan centered with walls in schist and pebble bells linked to lime, characteristic of genoese constructions in Corsica. An interior staircase leads to a unique dome vaulted room, then to a terrace surrounded by mâchicoulis, partially collapsed today. It was strategic to secure the mouth of the river of Olmeta, called fiume di Negru, where the boats of the Capcorsins docked. Its inscription in the Historical Monuments in 1992 attests to its heritage importance, although its present state requires preservation work.

The site is marked by a contrasting geography: the river of Olmeta, 7.3 km long, takes its source at 854 m above sea level under the Bocca d'Antigliu and flows into the Mediterranean near the tower. The bottom of its valley, covered and rocky (where the name Negru, evoking the dark color), was a necessary crossing point for exchanges between the interior of the land and the sea. A Genoese or Roman bridge, destroyed in 2016 by a flood, has been under reconstruction since 2023, illustrating the contemporary challenges of preserving the local heritage.

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