History &Traditions

May and June - 7 days, 6 nights - Private Tour only

 Corsica retraces its human history to Ancient Neolithic time, 9000 years ago. Legend says that the first person to arrive in Corsica was a woman, a shepherdess named Corsa. The oldest human being found on the island is an 8575 years old lady, and history, in Corsica, means old, very old times.

This experience of the island allows you to enter a vanishing world of tradition and ancient connection to the Land of Corsica, its ancestors and its tumultuous history.

You are invited to walk through pastures and bush land to experience the magic and the mysteries of spectacular prehistoric sites, some very little known to the public, and to touch 7000 year old megaliths.

                                                                   

You explore medieval sites and museums, Bronze Age villages and archeological wonders, and learn about the ancient people of Corsica, the Korsi, and the numerous civilizations that invaded and occupied the island.

Courtesy of Arbousier

The journey starts with a Champagne welcome reception overlooking the Mediterranean, in a fragrant world of wild flowers and sea breezes. Relax in refined elegance among antique furniture, discreet authentic French luxury and a very Corsican “chic rustic” ambience. Savor a gastronomy dinner with gentle waves at your feet while the sun sets radiantly on the blue sea.

Corsica has a thousand year old tradition of gathering and using medicinal plants. The island is covered with a variety of dense vegetation, with several hundred species endemic to the island and 130 plants found nowhere else in the world. Most of this vegetal world is aromatic and gives this inimitable fragrant “maquis.”  These aromatic plants are distilled and produce rare and precious essential oils.

U Rosumarinu, Rosemary

U Ghjinèparu, Juniper

A Morta, Myrtle

U Listincu, Mastic

To understand authentic Corsican “aromatherapie”, nothing is quite like a private visit to an organic farm and then to a distillery including a guided botanical walk, learning about the characteristics of plants, their specific gathering, medicinal properties, and their distillation with master-distillers, “Druids of modern times”, who have brought their art to the level of alchemy.

An organic medicinal plants farm

Medicinal murzella ready to be distilled

France-Marie Louvet, ND, has been a pioneer in Aromatic Medicine in France since the early 80’s and has extensive clinical experience using essential oils.  She welcomes your questions about well-being and how to use these medicinal aromatic extracts in your daily life and presents an introduction on the traditional use of Corsican aromatic plants.

A private guided visit takes you through a unique park in Europe, which purpose is to breed, protect and study tortoises and turtles from throughout the world. Set in a remarkable natural environment, the park is home to 3000 animals, and 150 species from the 5 continents are represented, from the Americas to the Mediterranean, from Asia and Africa. Turtles are an endemic animal of Corsica, where they can be easily found in nature.

A Corsican baby turtle in the palm of the hand

Aldabra elephant tortoise - Courtesy A Cupulatta

Fifteen century Genoese bridge

We drive on small roads, stopping to see hidden architectural or historical treasures. We go through villages and visit the inhabitants, stop at a terrace or explore local curiosities. Do not expect a touristy itinerary, but a very private, hand-tailored cultural experience, stemming from native knowledge. Corsican Diorite, a very rare stone to which many locals attribute magical and healing properties.

As usual, there is a strong emphasis on local gastronomy and wines, all different each day. Elegant dinners prepared by renowned chefs in superb restaurants follow mouth-watering home-made meals at country auberges, and mountain specialties alternate with seafood, as this sumptuous bouillabaisse served at the picturesque seaside.

Owners and waiters take delight in introducing you to the subtleties of Corsican cheeses or game, or to the origin of an old traditional recipe and regional wines as well.

You learn traditional Corsican spring cuisine hands-on during a private cooking class with a local Corsican cuisine expert and cookbook author; afterward, you eat what you prepared, along with a choice of local fine wines, aperitifs and digestifs.

You discover bio-dynamic wine making at Monsieur le Comte’s estate.

After a day of exploration in nature and villages, you are invited to soak and swim in hot thermal waters in ancient Roman Thermaes where effigies of Roman Empress Etruscilla and Emperor Hadrien (250 AD) were found in the swimming pool in the 19th century.

Did you ever wish to learn everything you ever wanted to know about real cheese? To taste the most authentic Corsican cheese, never exported outside of the island, with the finest local wines? After this day spent at the local Cheese Fair, you will never look at cheese the same way! You are personally introduced to shepherds, craft people, wine makers and you mingle with the local population in the most genuine Corsican atmosphere.

Goats and ewes are grazing in the wilderness during the day and gathered at the farm every morning and evening for milking. Then, the cheeses are made by hand at the farm, and sold fresh or aged according to tradition. This most healthy environment allows obtaining milk and cheeses of the highest quality, both nutritional and tasty.

You taste the famous bruccio, unique to Corsica, which is fresh eaten still warm, or enters in sophisticated recipes.

Zucchini flowers stuffed with bruccio

Corsican olives

Rove through the narrow cobble-stoned alleys of a fortified medieval town and visit small old-fashioned stores and boutiques filled with treasures for the senses. Learn about Corsican vendetta, and hear the lore and stories of the feuds right on site. In Corsica, every mountain, river, stone or beach has a story. Your guide reveals many of them where love, battles, honor, and magic are part of the past and sometimes of the present.
Experience unforgettable tables, in an 18th century country inn, on an aristocratic estate, or in a quiet garden at the table of a Lady Chef, prize-winner in Paris, for her famous table and superb Corsican cuisine academy.

Experience an unforgettable private evening of Corsican polyphony, a traditional and ritual singing art coming from the dawn of time, described by the late author Lady Dorothy Carrington as "it was like hearing a voice from the depths of the earth; a song from the dawn of time; from a beginning that one never dares believe is accessible.”

Authentic traditional Corsican polyphony with the group Alta Voce

Listen to the silence of the ancient stones, breathe intoxicating aromatic air, refresh along gorgeous cascades, savor local pastries right out of the open wood-fire oven, rejuvenate in a nurturing environment, enjoy the luxury of your room in the evening, enrich yourself with cultural variety and let your soul replenish in this most spirited place that is Corsica.

Before registering for our tours, we always prefer having a conversation with you over the phone. We favor human contact and personalized service and are glad to assist you. For more details about the accommodation, pricing and conditions about this tour, please contact us.