80

This paper puts forward a historical and cultural examination of the relationship between Corsica and Italy in contemporary history. The analysis focuses primarily on the first half of the 19th century, a time when relations between the elites of Corsica and of Tuscany were remarkably close. These relations largely appear to have been determined by the process of French “ civilisation” which Corsican society was then undergoing. They can thus be regarded as a reaction to the resolve shown by the island’s prefects in their endeavour to impose French culture and law on the Corsican population.The author goes on to analyse the reasons which, in the second part of the century, would lead to a gradual attenuation in Corsican society of Italian cultural and linguistic influences. He concludes his analysis with an examination of the political and cultural context of the 1920s, a time when Fascism would artificially attempt to revive the idea of an “Italian” Corsica. This process would provoke the hostility and resentment which was to colour relations between Corsican society and Italy in the second half of the 20th century.