Today, we will focus on a region which is quite special due to its geolocalisation: it is an island!
Also nicknamed Island of Beauty, Corsica is an island located 200km away from the Azur Coast. It is composed of two departments: the High Corsica with Bastia as its main city and the Low Corsica with Ajaccio as its main city. Corsica is the third biggest occidental Mediterranean behind Sicily and Sardinia. Indeed, its length is 183km and width is 80km. A land of character and beauty, you can find innumerable wonders from North to South, from West to East.
The island has everything you could dream of for holidays: the sunny Mediterranean climate, the sea, the mountains, and dreamy landscapes. Corsica chose to preserve its nature with 5 natural reserves that cover more than a third of the island. Every nook and cranny of Corsica has something surprising, a magical place like nowhere else, Corsica offers astonishing landscapes, from the Cap Corse to the Gulf of Porto; from the Calanches de Piana (classified by UNESCO) to the Scandola reserve ; from the Spelunca gorges, to the Aïtone forest or the Aiguilles de Bavela; from the Lavezzi islands, off Bonifacio, to the bloodthirsty islands, facing the Ajaccio gulf, everything in Corsica is beauty and temperament.
The climate present on the island is the Mediterranean climate; in summer (June to August), temperatures vary from 25 to 30°C.
Corsica was attached for nearly four centuries to the Republic of Genoa before a brief independence as the Kingdom of Corsica from 15 April 1736 to December 1740. On 15 May 1768, it was ceded by the Republic of Genoa to France, although Genoa has had only a limited hold on the island since the declaration of independence in 1755. It was conquered militarily by the Kingdom of France at the Battle of Ponte-Novo in 1769.
From the 1970s to 2000, Corsica possessed a history marked by violence. Indeed, from 1975 to the end of the 2000s, attacks (plasticising or machine-gunning) were almost daily in Corsica, mostly at night. They are claimed by the “Front de Libération Nationale Corse” (Corsican National Liberation Front) and various dissident groups, some of them however have rogue motivations far from politics. The blue nights characterised by multiple simultaneous and localised attacks on the whole island attract the attention of the media. It was in part a reaction to the poverty and unemployment problems present on the Island. The population wanted the national government to take into account the specificity Corsica presents as an island.
The Corsica region was created in 1982 (as a collectivity) and acquired in 1991, following local claims, a special status collectivity called “territorial collectivity of Corsica”. It played a part in improving the political situation in the later years. From the end of the 2000s, attacks became rarer without disappearing completely and now in this type of attacks has disappeared.
Surely by its history and by its status as an island, the inhabitants are feeling strongly attached to their island and as separated from the continent even if they are only 200km away from the French coasts. Thus they elected in the last regional elections in 2017 an independent party at their head. It is the only region where an unknown party won the elections. As there is a strong feeling of independence their flag is a sign which is used a lot. This feeling also explains why the regional language is still used quite a lot, the name of traditional events, food and the name of the road are always in this language.
The flag of Corsica (“A bandera Corsa”) is one of the main symbols of Corsica, along with the song Dio vi Salvi Regina. It was adopted by the Corsican region, now the territorial collectivity of Corsica, in 1980. It represents an escutcheon of silver with a Moorish head of Sable contorted and twisted Argent (in the version in the form of a flag, the escutcheon is not represented).
Benefiting from a beautiful location between the mountains and the sea, Corsica offers a rich range of delicacies concocted from local
products. These recipes can be enjoyed on the beach, at home or in the heart of the villages.
Wine: La Pietra (a beer), Patrimonio, Muscat du Cap-corse, Ajaccio and Vin-de-corse
Meats:
From the sea:
Vegetables/non-meat dishes:
Cheese:
Desserts / Sweets:
Bread:
I hope you will find yourselves unsatisfied with only this much of information and thus to search for more information about this beautiful region by opening the links below and doing your own researches:
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