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National Geographic : 1973 Sep
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As my own time in Corsica drew to a close, I thought of those islanders over the cen turies who, from necessity or ambition, had exiled themselves from this vision of beauty that was their home. Corsican tenacity and force of mind drove some of them to remark able heights while-Corsicans to the last they managed still to carry on their battles with each other. Two famous Corsicans were lifelong rivals -Napoleon, Corsica's most spectacular ex port, and Count Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo Adversaries in life, companions after death, Corsicans Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo (left) and Napoleon Bonaparte face each other in the Chateau de la Punta-the Pozzo mansion, now a museum. Friends in their youth, as ambitious men they became enemies-Pozzo backing island indepen dence while Napoleon cast his lot with the French. As Napoleon rose to power on the march to empire, his rival became a brilliant (below), who rose high in the court of Russia. They were enemies from the day Bonaparte's cohorts seriously manhandled Pozzo's broth er, who was running against Napoleon in a military election. The election, which Napo leon won largely by force, promoted the future emperor to lieutenant colonel in the Ajaccio National Guard. Pozzo became Paoli's top administrator. But shortly the French Government, armed with denunciations by Lucien Bonaparte, indicted Paoli and Pozzo as traitors. diplomatic adviser to Bonaparte's enemies in the courts of Europe. The diplomat's descendants continued the vendetta, building their chateau overlooking Golfe d'Ajaccio with stones from the Tuile ries Palace-Paris home of Napoleon III, nephew of the former emperor. Now, in a gesture of reconciliation, the Pozzo di Borgo family has hung these oil portraits in the Grand Salon of the chateau. Sunny Corsica:French Morsel in the Mediterranean 421
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