Pierre-Antoine Boccheciampe, a determined opponent of Pascal Paoli, told the French people who occupied Oletta, about the conspiracy that was being plotted against them in 1769.  After the island was defeated, he was named prosecutor of the King and then member of the High Council of Corsica.

CARRUGHJELLU JEAN ANDRE BASSI 

(25/01/25, Oletta – 10.09.1947 Peam Chor – Cambodia)

Corporal in the Mixed Regiment of Cambodia.  Class of 1945-registered N°161 when recruited in Ajaccio, he was declared Missing in Action during a patrol in the middle of the Indochina War, on September 10, 1947 in Peam Chor, province of Kandal (Cambodia) in 1947.  “A young officer, courageous and full of energy who, during an ambush in which he had engaged his unit, on September 10, 1947 in Peam Chor, put up a heroic defense against a very superior opponent in number and tried to fight against the surprise tactic with remarkable self-control.  Overwhelmed by the number of attackers, he fell after a heroic resistance.  Will leave the memory of a magnificent soldier”, extract from the decree of December 23, 1958 published in the Official Journal of January 3, 1959 dealing with Military Medal concessions. These concessions consist of awarding the Military Medal of Exterior Operations with Distinction.  

CARRUGHJU L’ARCHIATRE NATALE SALICETI 

(1714, Oletta – 1789,…) 

Born in 1714 in Oletta, Natale Saliceti distinguished himself as the first in a line of pontifical doctors by becoming Pope Pius VI ^th ‘s (1775-1799) personal doctor. 

His career really took off when he was named head doctor of Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome in 1748; the gallery of famous doctors of this hospital still keeps a bust of this Oletta native today.  In 1758, his nomination as an anatomy professor at the University of Sapienza allowed him to better establish his position in the scientific and political spheres of life in Rome.  He took an active part in the scientific and cultural news of his time by being a member of several academies such as, amongst others, the Academy of Sciences and Humanities of Naples and the Institute of Bologna.

Even though he was far from his native island, Natale Saliceti’s origins in Oletta continued to play a role in his life as a doctor. In April 1757, when the Canon Giulio Matteo Natali, his relative and friend, was the victim of an assassination attempt in Rome, he was indeed the person who intervened and healed his wounds.

Five years before his death, in 1784, he published a study concerning how pulmonary tuberculosis spreads.

CARRUGHJELLU FAUSTINE LECCIA  

(25.09.1880, Oletta – 13.05.1958,…)

MARIE AUGUSTINE LECCIA, called FAUSTINE was born on September 25, 1880 in Oletta.  After serious studies she obtained her First Certificate, then the Superior one and naturally turned towards teaching and obtained her Educational Aptitude Certificate.   First a primary school teacher, then principal of Oletta’s School, she was named an Academy Officer in 1920.  During wartime she was Secretary at City Hall.

One of the first Resistance partisans, the Italians had baptized her “The Passionaria”, reported as pro-Gaullist and pro-British.  Arrested by the occupying forces, taken to Marbeuf, in spite of her heart condition, she was interned in a concentration camp in Prunelli de Fiumorbo.   She should have been transported to Italy but the Armistice was signed.  Freed after the Victory but very affected, she however participated in the community’s administration.

Very active in Oletta, there were many people who remembered going to her house to play piano and also to study.  Famous for her poems, she often received awards at poetry contests (Academy of Jeux Floraux of Nice, Political and Literary Annals, one of these contests was presided over by Frederic Mistral).  She wrote a very beautiful poem that remains in the community’s annals in honor of Our Lady of Mercy “O Madre di Pieta”.