View source for L'Île-Rousse

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Expand French|topic=geo|date=December 2008|L'Île-Rousse}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name               = L'Île-Rousse
|native name        = Lìsula
|commune status     = [[Communes of France|Commune]]
|image              = L'Île-Rousse Port1 JPG.jpg
|caption            = Port
|image coat of arms = Blason ville fr L Île-Rousse (Haute-Corse).svg
|arrondissement     = Calvi
|canton             = L'Île-Rousse
|INSEE              = 2B134
|postal code        = 20220
|mayor              = Angèle Bastiani<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|website=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=2 December 2020|language=fr}}</ref>
|term               = 2020&ndash;2026
|intercommunality   = CC de l'Île-Rousse - Balagne
|coordinates        = {{coord|42.6356|8.9381|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m        = 15
|elevation min m    = 0
|elevation max m    = 151
|area km2           = 2.5
|population         = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date    = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes   = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}
[[File:Corse-04780ile-Rousse-tour génoise.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Torra di a Petra]]]]
[[File:Corse-04779-ile-Rousse.jpg|thumb|View from the tower]]
[[File:Pascal Paoli01.jpg|thumb|Bust of [[Pasquale Paoli]]]]
'''L'Île-Rousse''' ({{IPA|fr|lil ʁus}}; {{langx|co|Lìsula}}, {{IPA|co|ˈlizula|}}, or {{lang|co|Isula Rossa}}, {{IPA|co|ˈizula ˈrɔssa|}}; {{langx|it|Isola Rossa}}, {{IPA|it|ˈiːzola ˈrossa|}}; {{literally|Red Island}}) is a [[Communes of France|commune]] in the [[Haute-Corse]] [[Departments of France|department]] of [[France]] on the island of [[Corsica]].

It was founded in 1758 by [[Pasquale Paoli]] to create a port that would not be in the hands of the [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] (such as [[Calvi, Haute-Corse|Calvi]]).  As [[Italian language|Italian]] was until 1848 the administrative language of Corsica, the town was originally named ''Isola Rossa'' (Red Island) from the eponymous reddish color of a rocky islet that served as a natural harbor.

Along with [[Saint-Florent, Haute-Corse|Saint-Florent]] and [[Tox, Haute-Corse|Tox]], it is one of only three communes in the [[département]] to have a French name — all the others have kept their Italian names despite the repeated demands of Corsican nationalists to change the names of all communes to their native Corsican names.

==History==
Inhabited since very ancient times (between 5000-3000  BC), l'Île-Rousse was in 1000 BC a small, prosperous town called Agilla; it was dependent on [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] in [[Phoenicia]]. Destroyed by the Phoenician fleet of Calaris ([[Galéria|Galeria]]), Agilla came under Roman rule as Rubico Rocega (red rock) until the 4th century AD.  Being so close to the sea, it was threatened by pirates and other potential enemies, and was not inhabited for several centuries except for fishermen and peasants who lived on the products of the sea and earth around the villages of [[Santa Reparata]] and [[Monticello]].

In the 17th century, merchants from [[Santa-Reparata-di-Balagna]] established shops to trade by sea with the coastal villages of the [[Balagne]], [[Nebbio]], and the west of the [[Cap Corse]]. About 1759, [[Pasquale Paoli]], who often came to Balagne, decided to equip Corsica with a port in the northwest of the island to try to cut the sea traffic between [[Genoa]] and [[Calvi, Haute-Corse|Calvi]].  His plans prepared, he persuaded the Balagne government, sitting in [[Algajola]], to authorize him to create a fort protecting the port (the Scalu) on 10 December 1765. L’Île-Rousse was born from this decision.

==Climate==
L'Île-Rousse has a cold semi-arid climate ([[Köppen climate classification]] ''BSk'') closely bordering on a [[hot-summer mediterranean climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification]] ''Csa''). The average annual temperature in L'Île-Rousse is {{cvt|16.9|C}}. The average annual rainfall is {{cvt|473.8|mm}} with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around {{cvt|24.9|C}}, and lowest in February, at around {{cvt|10.4|C}}. The highest temperature ever recorded in L'Île-Rousse was {{cvt|39.6|C}} on 5 July 1993; the coldest temperature ever recorded was {{cvt|-1.3|C}} on 28 December 1996.

{{Weather box
|location = L'Île-Rousse (1991–2020 averages, extremes 1988–present)
|metric first = Y
|single line = Y
|Jan record high C = 20.8
|Feb record high C = 22.2
|Mar record high C = 27.9
|Apr record high C = 29.3
|May record high C = 32.2
|Jun record high C = 36.7
|Jul record high C = 39.6
|Aug record high C = 36.9
|Sep record high C = 35.2
|Oct record high C = 31.3
|Nov record high C = 25.9
|Dec record high C = 25.2
|year record high C = 39.6
|Jan high C = 12.8
|Feb high C = 12.9
|Mar high C = 14.9
|Apr high C = 17.4
|May high C = 21.2
|Jun high C = 25.0
|Jul high C = 27.6
|Aug high C = 27.9
|Sep high C = 24.6
|Oct high C = 21.1
|Nov high C = 16.9
|Dec high C = 13.9
|year high C = 19.7
|Jan mean C = 10.6
|Feb mean C = 10.4
|Mar mean C = 12.2
|Apr mean C = 14.5
|May mean C = 18.1
|Jun mean C = 21.8
|Jul mean C = 24.5
|Aug mean C = 24.9
|Sep mean C = 21.7
|Oct mean C = 18.5
|Nov mean C = 14.5
|Dec mean C = 11.7
|year mean C = 16.9
|Jan low C = 8.4
|Feb low C = 7.9
|Mar low C = 9.5
|Apr low C = 11.5
|May low C = 15.0
|Jun low C = 18.6
|Jul low C = 21.4
|Aug low C = 21.9
|Sep low C = 18.8
|Oct low C = 15.9
|Nov low C = 12.2
|Dec low C = 9.5
|year low C = 14.2
|Jan record low C = -1.0
|Feb record low C = -0.9
|Mar record low C = -1.1
|Apr record low C = 2.5
|May record low C = 5.6
|Jun record low C = 9.1
|Jul record low C = 13.0
|Aug record low C = 14.8
|Sep record low C = 10.8
|Oct record low C = 4.7
|Nov record low C = 1.1
|Dec record low C = -1.3
|year record low C = -1.3
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 34.0
|Feb precipitation mm = 32.7
|Mar precipitation mm = 42.9
|Apr precipitation mm = 39.9
|May precipitation mm = 30.2
|Jun precipitation mm = 29.8
|Jul precipitation mm = 7.1
|Aug precipitation mm = 13.5
|Sep precipitation mm = 43.7
|Oct precipitation mm = 60.6
|Nov precipitation mm = 85.5
|Dec precipitation mm = 53.9
|year precipitation mm = 473.8
|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 5.6
|Feb precipitation days = 5.5
|Mar precipitation days = 5.8
|Apr precipitation days = 5.9
|May precipitation days = 4.3
|Jun precipitation days = 2.9
|Jul precipitation days = 0.8
|Aug precipitation days = 1.4
|Sep precipitation days = 4.7
|Oct precipitation days = 6.5
|Nov precipitation days = 8.5
|Dec precipitation days = 6.3
|year precipitation days = 58.2
|source 1 = Meteo France<ref name=MFclimat1>{{cite web
| url = https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/FichesClim/FICHECLIM_20093002.pdf
| title = Ile Rousse (20)
| work = Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1991–2020 et records
| publisher = Meteo France
| language = fr
| access-date = 8 September 2022}}</ref>
}}

==Description==
Built on a bay bounded to the northwest by the rocky islets of red [[Porphyry (geology)|porphyry]] which give it its name, and to the south by an immaculate white sand beach, l’Île-Rousse is presented to the tourist in all its beauty, extending westwards from the sea to the hill of the Sémaphore and the col de Fogata.

The old town of Pascal Paoli, le Père de la Patrie (the Father of the Fatherland), is made up of paved streets, almost rectilinear and oriented north-south.  From the quays of the commercial port installed on 3 of the 6 small islands, the fishing port and the bridges which link the harbor complex to the coast and the market with its twenty one columns, the fortifications and the houses of the old city grew over the years, from 1765 into the first half of the 19th century.

Certain houses with their interior [[Florence|Florentine]] staircases are remarkable. The first church built in 1740 and destroyed in 1936 gave its name to the rue Notre-Dame. The church dedicated to Notre Dame de Miséricorde is next to an old [[Franciscan]] convent, while the parish church of l’Île-Rousse, the [[Immaculate Conception|Immaculée Conception de Marie]], is on the west of the main square, with its enormous [[Date Palm|date palms]] (planted 1890) in the shade of which it is good to play a game of ''[[pétanque]]''.

The new town blends harmoniously with the old at the place Paoli, shaded by hundred year old [[Platanus|plane trees]], where it is good to take the summer air. The old town offers visitors the chance to stroll on the old paving stones, partly restored, along streets with historic names: [[Pasquale Paoli]], [[Napoleon]], ''les frères'' Arena (Arena brothers), [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe]], Agilla..

Built by Pascal Paoli, equipped by its municipal officials, after 1815 with a [[blazon]] decorated with the royal [[fleur-de-lis]] of France and run for than a half-century by elected [[Bonapartist]] officials, l’Île-Rousse is a town with a share in the history of Corsica. Its contradictions make it an attractive and unexpected place for the tourists who come each year to sit down under the plane trees of its beautiful central square.

==Population==
{{Historical populations
|source = INSEE<ref name=pophist>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-2B134#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE</ref>
|percentages = pagr
|align = none
|1968 |2036
|1975 |2360
|1982 |2632
|1990 |2288
|1999 |2774
|2007 |2765
|2012 |3740
|2017 |3043
}}

==Notable people==
*[[Pasquale Paoli]]
*{{ill|Battista Acquaviva|fr||it|Battista Acquaviva}}
*[[Aleksa Ivanc Olivieri]] (1916–2010), Slovenian painter, graphic designer and art restorer, who lived and worked in France
[[File:Panorama_ilerousse.jpg|thumb|800px|center|Panoramic view from Pietra lighthouse]]

==See also==
*[[Communes of the Haute-Corse department]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|L'Île-Rousse}}
* [http://mairie-ilerousse.com/ Official page]

{{Haute-Corse communes}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilerousse}}
[[Category:Communes of Haute-Corse]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1758]]
[[Category:Haute-Corse communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Populated coastal places in France]]