In his countless journeys across the Mediterranean, the writer Guy de Maupassant became captivated by this vast mountainous mass that cleaves the ancient sea. Seemingly distant from European civilization, with a foreign soul and always chaotic, it inspired an endless stream of stories in the Frenchman’s life, who treated the island’s untamed nature as one more of its characters, often nicknamed “the savage”.
Despite its physical remoteness from the continent, it has always played a decisive role in France’s grand history since its acquisition in 1768; besides being the cradle of Napoleon Bonaparte and his ancestors, it was a pivotal anchor for French dominance in the region. Yet, the Republic of Genoa’s tenure for centuries remains latent in every corner of its universe, whether through the Romanesque churches that mimic Pisa’s green walls, a deep imprint on the island’s culinary repertoire with spiced sausages such as coppa, or the Corsicans’ affectionate temperament.
A singular encounter between two cultures forced to understand each other due to the island’s isolation, which has, in turn, shaped a distinct identity difficult to label, given the vast scales of its territory, with more than a thousand kilometers of coastline brushing up against nearly three thousand meters of height at Monte Cinto. With routes often dragged along by mountain passes and peaks that truly deserve to be climbed to seize a panoramic view of the wild Corsica, the first and foremost recommendation of the journey is to anchor the itinerary to a single cardinal direction to facilitate its exploration.
Set course from Bastia airport, the island’s second-largest city, toward the north and you’ll encounter what may be the wildest face of the island. The very side Maupassant sketched without pause, with his own hand.
Toward the End of the World
On the ascent we will come upon Cap Corse, the cape that for centuries has stood as the end of the world and remains largely unknown even to locals, because only certain points of its form are accessible by car. An island within another that seems to contain all the distinctiveness of Corsica; here the climate is warmer and windier, nourished by cliffs, marshy flats, and rugged terrain but also by turquoise-water beaches. This is the case of Tamarone, the sandy jewel that bathes Macinaggio, the picturesque village where fishing boats dock among old houses with colorful shutters. A half-hour drive away, on the western side of the island, lies Tour de Sénèque, built under Genoese rule in the sixteenth century to shield the region from Berber pirates, and its ascent grants hypnotic views of the island’s most rugged face.
