Aleria

Aleria stands on the eastern coast of Corsica near the mouth of the Tavignano. Founded as Alalia by Greeks from Phocaea, it later became a Roman colony and an important centre and provincial capital of the island. Its ancient harbour lay by the lagoon of Diana, while rivers and marshes gradually transformed the surrounding plain after the city's decline.

Aleria also gave its name to a bishopric. Among its bishops was Alessandro Sauli, whose ministry brought him to Corsica in the sixteenth century. By the end of the old regime the bishop resided at Cervione rather than Aleria itself. The diocese was suppressed in 1801, when its territory was added to the diocese of Ajaccio under the Napoleonic concordat with Rome.