Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean and a French region, however having a special status (officially "territorial collectivity of Corsica"), composed of two departments: South Corsica (2A) and Upper Corsica (2B).
It is nicknamed Island of Beauty. The Greeks called it Kallisté (in ancient Greek Καλλίστη: "the most beautiful").
Corsica is the land of all contrasts. With nearly 300,000 inhabitants, 1000 km of coastline and an area of 8722 km², and 182 kilometers from North to South, it is one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia. Located about 200 km from the south-east of the French Riviera, west of Tuscany and north of Sardinia, it is distinguished by a mild and temperate Mediterranean climate.
Wooded and mountainous island, a green setting that falls into the sea.
Although many endemic species have disappeared, during prehistory or shortly after, compared to the mainland and the Breton islands, Corsica enjoys a relatively preserved environment, both on land and on the coast and at sea. The island is home to an international marine park, nature reserves (Scandola, Finocchiarola, Biguglia, Cerbicale, Bouches de Bonifacio and Tre Padule de Suartone) and the Regional Natural Park of Corsica, and community areas for birds.
This island is a small rock balanced in a universe cut in two. At the top, the past and its memories (vendetta, maquis), at the bottom, the sea. The gods of the Mediterranean could have settled there as a resort.
Corsica is also the cradle of a community long battered by history. A people who suffered from invaders and isolation.
Hard and tragic, secret and wild, Corsica will never be just another region on the map of France. Nothing that is rational here: neither the relief nor the climate, nor the passions nor the houses, nor the Corsicans. The beaches are of course heavenly, the coves secret and the mountains steep, rugged. This island is a mixture of rockery and voluptuousness, austerity and scents of distant island. Clinging to the mountains, isolated in the maquis, the stone and slate houses house family secrets and memories of vendetta. The maquis: it's deep Corsica! That of wild pigs and cows in freedom, fountains on the side of the roads, long winters where, after the summer, coppa, figatellu and chestnut flour are made. Arbutus trees, lentisks, myrtles, lavender and many other delicacies populate this world that is difficult to penetrate.
It's hard to find the words to say why we love Corsica...
All we are sure of is that its nickname of island of Beauty, is not overrated and that all those who had the pleasure of visiting it come back dazzled, with only one desire: See this island again as soon as possible