The city of Bastia has been on a landscaping binge lately. In our May/June 2021 issue, we profiled the sinuous Aldilonda pathway introduced along the Corsican coast. But Bastia’s efforts to improve access to the water have not stopped there. Beneath the citadel that lies at the city’s heart, another new landscape now meets the Mediterranean. Smooth, symmetrical, and elegantly subdued, the Mantinum pathway introduces an accessible public link between land and sea.

A path of stairways, ramps and belvederes winds through the structure, culminating at a majestic shoreline vista. Alongside the walkway, a slender (and slightly taller) formation discreetly houses an elevator. Designed by French firms Buzzo Spinelli Architecture and Antoine Dufour Architectes with landscape specialists Atelier GAMA, the pathway opens up a pedestrian passage to the citadel while improving access to the Romieu Garden — a green space also restored as part of the 7,089-square-metre project.

From afar, it is a rectilinear array of concrete forms. Up close, the experience is surprisingly intimate. Set against the rustic coast and the weather-beaten walls of a centuries-old fortress, the modernist structure unfolds with a formal simplicity that contrasts and amplifies the rich textures that surround it. What’s more, the board-formed concrete buildings — made exclusively from local Corsican aggregates composed of Cipollino marble and polished schist — were cast and tamped in place, resulting in a layered appearance that hints at an archeological record.

Distinctive walls were made by placing tamping beds every 16 centimetres on forms 48 centimetres high.

The form and proportion of Mantinum’s simple contemporary volumes also pay subtle homage to Bastia’s architectural heritage. As Buzzo Spinelli points out, “the shape of the elevator is similar to a retaining wall leaning against the rocks, in continuity with the parapets of the citadel.” From coast to castle, it is a journey through living history.

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1An integrated elevator creates an accessible connection between citadel and coast

2The pathway is deftly contoured to provide panoramic views of the water.

3Described by the architects as a “theatre of greenery,” new plantings connect the path to the Romieu Garden.