Albertacce (French pronunciation: [albɛʁtatʃe], Corsican: [alˈbɛrtatʃːe], Italian: [alˈbɛrtattʃe]) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse in the island and collectivity of Corsica, France.
[3] The commune occupies the southwest part of Niolu surrounded by a vast mountainous circle formed of high peaks in the watershed of Golo.
To the northeast of Valdu Niellu, between the mountains of Cinto and a ridge linking Crucetta Punta (2499 m), Capu Falu (2540 m), Capu di Inzecca (2299 m), the Cresta di l 'Inzecche, Monte Albanu (2018 m), and the remarkable Cinque Frati (1986 m) is the upper valley of Viru a tributary of the Golo.
The western slopes of the valley are covered by the communal forest of Albertacce composed mainly of Corsican pine.
Towards the peaks on the shady side, between 1600 and 2100 metres, pushes the fragrant alder trees (bassu in Corsican).
The Viru, the main tributary of the commune, is fed by several streams such as that of Paglia Orba and Foggiale bordered in part by the GR 20.
At the bottom of the creek beds, there are native species: the Tyrrhenian painted frogs (a bariulata) - toads living up to 1900 m and Corsican brook salamanders (a Tarantella).
Excavations undertaken since 2006 on the site of A Curnatoghja at Albertacce and also at Sidossi close to the hamlet of Calacuccia on a spur called E Mizane on the lakefront, have revealed some archaeological finds which attest to human presence at the end the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
The Archaeological Museum of Niolu of Lucien Acquaviva at Albertacce is intended to highlight the specific terminology of megalithic Corsican.
A Menhir statue (a stantara) of a Niolu "soldier" wearing a suit of armour, a breastplate of the Peoples of the sea, and a dagger was discovered during the demolition of the chapel of Saint-Jean Baptiste which was decided on in 1985 by the City Council of Calacuccia.
This stone called Ghjuvan Battista III was incorporated with two other menhirs into the walls of the chapel Saint-Jean Baptiste of Calacuccia that was next to the church when it was built in the 12th century, probably to confirm the victory of the Catholic religion over pagan rites because in the 7th century, Pope Gregory I claimed that he had repressed the "cult of stones" in Corsica.
According to Ptolemy Corsica was inhabited by twelve nations who, for the indigenous majority, had not been subject to Roman influence to a great extent.
It is also likely that the Saracen colonies of Corte and Balagne, harassed by Christian patriots, were driven back into Niolu where significant names of Calaguccia and Calasima were applied to two villages.
The Bank of Saint George, which had managed Corsica since 1453, used the troops of Nicolo Doria in 1503 to destroy the houses in the villages of Lozzi, L'Acquale, Erco, Corscia, Calacuccia, Casamaccioli, Sidossi, and Erbechincieby.
On the night of 29 to 30 March 1734, Castineta attacked, at Camputile (Niolu), Ghjacumu Santu Petriconi at the head of 300 Genoese troops - Greeks for the most part - and forced him to retreat to Vicu.
After the conquest of the island by the French troops of Louis XV in 1769, Niolu experienced savage military repression.
With the French Revolution that created the department of Corsica with Bastia as prefecture, the Pieve of Niolu became the Canton of Calacuccia in 1789.
The Niolu economy was, until the last century, dominated by pastoralism with regular movements of herds of goats and mouflons in search of pastures.
In early autumn shepherds drove their animals to the coastal plains and at the end of spring, they climbed back to the mountain pastures.
The reason is both a low number of days of snowfall, a thick layer of light snow most of the time, and the slopes are too short - insufficient to satisfy the customers.
In addition, and since 11 May 2010, the fishing association "AAPPMA A NIULINCA" has moved its headquarters to the town hall of Albertacce.
This association, with 150 members covering the five communes of the canton, manages the aquatic environment of this beautiful region where the Golo rises.