Southern Corsica is the ‘mountain in the sea’ department, a land of pink granite and fragrant maquis where the peaks rise to over 2,700 metres and where white-sand coves are bathed by an unreal blue sea. Ajaccio, the island’s capital and the department’s administrative centre, is the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, and Napoleonic heritage is ever-present here: the Bonaparte House, the Napoleonic salon in the town hall, the National Museum of the Bonaparte House…
The fortified heritage of Southern Corsica bears witness to the centuries of Genoese rule that preceded the island’s annexation to France in 1768: the Genoese towers that dot the coastline at regular intervals, the citadel of Ajaccio, the fortresses of Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio, whose medieval upper town, perched on white cliffs 70 metres above the sea, is one of the most spectacular sites in the Mediterranean.
The Corsica Regional Nature Park, which covers more than a third of the island, preserves landscapes of wild beauty and exceptional biodiversity — every species found in Corsica is unique and irreplaceable — making the Isle of Beauty one of the most precious natural and heritage destinations in the Mediterranean.