CORSICA: the Island of Beauty
Far from the clichés marked with the seal of revenge and the honor of blood feuds,
It is in the dream notches of the gulfs that I invite you to laze,
While walking on the GR 20 to climb towards the summits with sharp peaks,
Kallisté, by this high road, opens you hamlets and villages of Alta Roca.
The "pinzuttu" will take you from lakes to forests and from capes to coves,
On whirling roads, or mule tracks through the bushy scrub,
Fishing ports in hilltop villages or on vertiginous hanging balconies,
On the way to a prodigious nature all along its granitic dorsal ridge.
O Corsica love island, sang Tino Rossi, hymn taken up in quatrains by the ARIÉ ... Joie,
From the windswept Cape Corsica, to the Lavezzi islands that created the stir,
From Bastia the northern baroque to Ajaccio the southern Bonapartiste,
It is on the side of Corte that the Corsicans honor Hyacinthe and Pascal the Paolists.
We will walk the streets of Ajaccio Imperial in the footsteps of Napoleon,
In its Corsican cradle the Bonaparte family settled in the center from the 16th century,
The young "Napoleon" will be baptized on 7/21/1771 in the N.D. Cathedral of the Assumption,
And not far from the cave of his childhood, a monument recalls his endless battles.
Watching over the Gulf of Ajaccio, the Sanguinaires lighthouse inspired Alphonse Daudet,
"Imagine a reddish island with a fierce appearance and a point, its lighthouse,
At the other an old Genoese tower and below, at the edge of the water, in ruins, a lazaretto,
Then ravines, maquis and at the top in a whirlwind of birds, the house of the lighthouse. "
It is in the red jewel of the Gulf of Porto that the treasures of the island of beauty nestle,
The horizontal rhyolite, ocher, osprey and peregrine falcon organs serve as hosts,
In the reserve of Scandola there is a fire of red which ignites the tormented relief,
By vertiginous and jagged cliffs plunging into the sea dotted with caves.
Listed as World Heritage Sites, the Gulf of Girolata and the Calanches de Piana,
It is by an ocher Genoese fort that the location of Girolata is signaled to sailors and skippers,
But it’s in the spooky and enchanting landscapes of the Piana calanches,
Let the peaks and the pinnacles of the surprising rocks spark the imagination of hikers.
Bristling at the top of a peninsula in the south of Corsica, Bonifacio takes to the sea
In the heart of the old town, the tall, narrow houses overlook the picturesque alleys,
The upper, charming and vertiginous city shelters the citadel encamped on its limestone cliff,
Downstairs, the elegant harbor is home to the splendid luxury yachts and yachts of the billionaires.
Hair in the wind, after the "grain of sand", head for the Lavezzi Islands with heavy liabilities,
An idyllic setting of coves, beaches with crystal clear waters and rocks of the abysses,
Here the sinking of the three wooden hull masts of La Sémillante, in 1855, on the reefs,
Has permeated this place where two cemeteries and a granite pyramid honor the 702 victims.
Through the Alta Roca, a bewitching forest with mossy and old-fashioned rocks,
Houses the ancient habitats of the megalithic enclosure of Cucuruzzu and its torra,
On the side of Zonza, the villages in tight stones shelter, under the needles of Bavella,
Huge peaks and rocky ramparts where the GR 20 winds through the Laricio pines.
Suddenly the decor becomes lunar between the short grass and the creeping broom on the high plateau,
But in the middle of a green oasis appear the pozzines, these lawns full of water,
Where the wild, small, stocky and rustic horses in the brown dress graze peacefully,
Facing the lords of the rocks with their heads adorned with curved horns, without fear.
Here, in a procession of Corsican local products, very popular with gastronomes,
The stars of coppa, figatellu, lonzu and sausage sausages climb on the podium,
But the brocciu obtained by fermentation of sheep's milk is a must,
Accompanying the semi-dry and smoked liver sausages and the unforgettable chestnut cake.
Seen from the citadel, Bastia opens its heritage to the Italian Baroque style illuminator,
In the old Genoese Bastiglia the donjon square shelters the old Palace of the Governors,
On the hillside, the Romieu garden offers a breathtaking view of the old sun-drenched port,
We reach it by the elegant wrought iron staircase framed by buildings with colorful facades.
In the Nebbiu region, the village of Murato is home to San Michele as a cathedral,
With white and green limestone from the serpentine, in a remarkable Roman ensemble,
Oletta built in an amphitheater on its promontory looks out over the protruding Monte Cinto,
When nestled in its gulf, St Florent's bastille keeps its galleons buried.
If on the side of Aléria, still resonates since 1975 the remembrance of the unexpected wine rebellion,
It is in the "Conca d´Oro" that the Muscat of Patrimonio obtained its stamp,
But it is close to Cap Corse that the vermentino passerillé sur lauzes gives impassitu,
A muscat with aromas of candied fruit and citrus, a sweet nectar to revive the taste buds.
End of the tour of Kallisté by the city where Christophe Colomb was born in the land of the castagnes,
Watched by its imposing Salt Tower serving as a ford and warehouse
Calvi and its Genoese citadel bathe in the deep blue, at the bottom of the Balagne garden,
Pace i Salute from the Island of Beauty, "Terra Nostra" for heritage Corsicans.
ARIÉ ... .JOIE