France
Corte
An eagle's-nest citadel at the heart of the mountains where independent Corsica had its capital.
The citadel juts from its rock spur like a clenched fist, two gorges dropping away on either side into forested valleys that run deep into the interior. Corte, in the heart of French Corsica, is where Corsican independence had its seat — Pasquale Paoli's republic governed from this town for fourteen years — and the university town below still carries the defiant energy of an island that never quite accepted being anyone's.
Corte sits at the geographical centre of Corsica, at the confluence of the Restonica and the Tavignano, and its setting deep in the mountains gives it the colour and atmosphere of the whole island. The citadel rises like a figurehead above the town — capital of the independent Corsican state under Paoli from 1755 until the French took the island in 1769 — and holds the Museum of Corsica, which tells the story of the island's identity, resistance and ways of life. The university Paoli founded was refounded in the 1980s, and its students keep the bars and the bookshops lively long after the coast has emptied. The Restonica gorge starts at the town's edge: a road up the valley, then a path to the glacial lakes of Melo and Capitello under the peaks, a full day out and back through granite, pine and cold water.
Solo
Corte is Corsica compressed — independence in the citadel, mountain wilderness in the Restonica, student energy in the bars below. The walk to the Lac de Melo puts glacial lakes within a morning of a coffee in town.
Friends
The Restonica hike to the lakes is a full day of scrambling and swimming. Come back to Corte for chestnut beer and stufatu in a student bar where the political posters are as much part of the décor as the furniture.
- The citadel perches on a rock spur above the Restonica and Tavignano gorges — the defensive position is visceral.
- Corsica's university town has an energy the coastal resorts lack — bars, bookshops and political posters.
- The Museum of Corsica inside the citadel explains the island's fierce identity through objects and voices.
- Two mountain valleys start at the town's edge — you can walk into wild country without a car.
Stufatu — the thick Corsican stew of beef and pasta — the island's mountain fuel, in a Corte bistro.
Chestnut beer brewed on the island — amber, with a nutty sweetness — the student bars' standard order.
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