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Built on the estuary at the mouth of the River Tavignano on the island's east coast, 40km southeast of Corte along the N200, ALERIA was first settled in 564 BC by a colony of Greek Phocaeans as a trading port for the copper and lead they mined from the land and the wheat, olives and grapes they farmed. After an interlude of Carthaginian rule, the Romans arrived in 259 BC, built a naval base and re-established its importance in the Mediterranean. Aleria remained the east coast's principal port right up until the eighteenth century. Little is left of the historic town except Roman ruins and a thirteenth-century Genoese fortress, which stands high against a background of chequered fields and green vineyards. To the south, a strip of modern buildings straddling the main road makes up the modern town, but it's the village set on the hilltop just west of here which holds most interest. The best plan is to begin with the Musee Jerome Carcopino (mid-May to Sept daily 8am-noon & 2-7pm; Oct to mid-May Mon-Sat 8am-noon & 2-5pm; 10F/?1.52, including Roman site), housed in the Fort Matra and crammed with remarkable finds from the Roman site, including Hellenic and Punic coins, rings, belt links, elaborate oil lamps decorated with Christian symbols, Attic plates and a second-century marble bust of Jupiter Ammon. Etruscan bronzes fill another room, with jewellery and armour from the fourth to the second century BC. It's a stone's throw from here to the Roman site (closes 30min before museum; same ticket), where most of the excavation was done as recently as the 1950s, despite the fact that French novelist Prosper Merimee noticed signs of the Roman settlement during his survey of the island in 1830. Most of the site still lies beneath ground and is undergoing continuous excavation, but the balneum (bathhouse), the base of Augustus's triumphal arch, the foundations of the forum and traces of shops have already been unearthed. First discovered was the arch, which formed the entrance to the governor's residence - the praetorium - on the western edge of the forum. In the adjacent balneum , a network of reservoirs and cisterns, the caldarium bears traces of the underground pipes that would have heated the room, and a patterned mosaic floor is visible inside the neighbouring chamber. To the north of the site lie the foundation walls of a large house, while at the eastern end of the forum the foundations of the temple can be seen, and at its northern edge, over a row of column stumps, are the foundations of the apse of an early Christian church. Some traces of the Greek settlement , comprising the remains of an acropolis, have been discovered further to the east. It's believed that the main part of the town would have extended from the present site over to this acropolis and down to the Tavignano estuary. The port was located to the east of the main road, where the remnants of a second-century bathhouse have been found. Of Aleria's few hotels , Les Orangers (tel 04.95.57.00.31; 160-220F/?24-34), situated 50m north of the Cateraggio crossroads in the centre of the modern part, is the cheapest. L'Atrachj ata (tel 04.95.57.03.93, fax 04.95.57.08.03; 220-300F/?34-46), a little further north, does good meals; L'Empereur , a big motel-style building a little further up from Les Orangers (tel 04.95.57.02.13; 220-300F/?34-46), is clean and comfortable, with large chalet rooms opening onto a central garden. For campers , there's a pleasant and well-equipped site, the Marina d'Aleria , 3km east at the beach in a eucalyptus wood (tel 04.95.57.01.42; closed Nov-Easter).
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