Corsica: dining on the most beautiful island in the world

While most of the two million visitors each year opt for a seaside holiday, discovering the products of Corsica's terroir invites them to explore "off the beaten track". "It's obvious that people come here first and foremost for the coastline, to enjoy the beach and water sports, says Laurence Benoit. However, unless there are specific requests, the incentive operations always combine activities taking place in the mountains." "That's what we recommend as a priority, because staying on the island without visiting the villages in the high valleys would be more than simplistic".says Fanny Carré. And it's a real shame, because this is where the soul of the country vibrates.. Despite the barrage of postcards that mainly feature views of crystal-clear beaches, as if they were competing with tropical islands...

Head for the mountains. Just outside Ajaccio, you reach the mountains after an hour's drive, which is as winding and steep as it gets. A tortured landscape of cedar, pine and chestnut trees. The vegetation of the maquis - holm oak, mastic, myrtle, arbutus, broom, rosemary... - inspired the painters and writers who visited the island from the middle of the 19th century onwards, helping to forge the chaotic image of the Corsican landscape: "twisted, fragrant, hermetic maquis, forged like bronze blanks".In short, the mysterious refuge of bandits, valiant knights of honour engaged in cruel vendettas that many novelists have transformed into poignant tragedies. In their time, bestsellers such as Colomba by Prosper Mérimée, have become part of the island's mythology.

This landscape is obviously a key component of incentive programmes. Depending on the budget and the size of the group, the agencies can take over village inns or natural sites for lunch or dinner. In the heart of the maquis. Or in the forest. Or even on a summit, with local produce delivered by helicopter, as Corse Escapades did for an executive committee. Without taking to the skies, taking the maquis route also offers the opportunity to organise meetings with the producers who perpetuate the traditions of the mountains for which they are responsible.

The image of an almost archaic Corsica takes a beating when you visit, for example, the Gravona valley: rural, yes, but connected to the Internet. And it's all for the good cause of showcasing the skills of its farmers, producers and craftsmen, who pass on a very much alive culture. At an altitude of 700 m, Cuttoli is one of those villages where a number of enthusiasts are concentrated. For example, Marie-Claude Scarbonchi and her husband, who make "long before the label existed"They also produce a small amount of olive oil and an infinite number of jams made from their orchards. These include citron, the much larger ancestor of the lemon. The fruit, which can weigh up to two kilos, is not edible; only the peel and skin are used to make cédratine, a tangy liqueur that can be enjoyed ice-cold.

Authenticity is another of Paul Biancucci's hallmarks. This cutler, a scholar of the history of the tool, is a specialist in the so-called 'damascened' blade, a laminate of iron and steel worked for several dozen hours in the forge, just before the metal's melting point at 1,200°. Hammered, stretched and bent, these blades, just a few millimetres thick, become a composite of up to 2,000 layers. This ultra-resistant fibre structure is revealed when the steel is soaked in acid, darkening more than the iron and creating a unique graphic design... In the end, these are true works of art, as the wooden or horn handles also require a great deal of work. This explains the very limited production - around fifty pieces a year - and a waiting list of up to... three years. "We're a long way from the so-called Corsican knife, made in China, which is flooding the island's markets".says the craftsman. Counterfeiting is a particularly sensitive issue here. The producers of the island's charcuterie, considered to be one of the best in France, have a lot to say about it, and they don't hold back. "Our products are seasonal, insists Michel Torre, who also lives in Cuttoli. Figatellu (Editor's note: a flavoured pork liver sausage) is prepared between 20 November and 20 March; coppa (Editor's note: salted and dried loin) from late April to early May, etc. For all these products, demand far exceeds supply. So how do you explain the fact that you can find them twelve months out of twelve on the markets and in the supermarkets?"he asks.

It's a similar story further south, in the Taravo valley, with Nadia and Angeot Andreucci, a family of breeders of 'porcu nustrale', the authentic Corsican pig, who also run a farm inn in the village of Zevaco. A guarantee of excellence: their charcuterie is sold exclusively by word of mouth to passing customers. Like Michel Torre's business, this direct sales approach means that there is no need to go to the markets. Angeot, which also produces chestnut flour, takes great pleasure in showing visitors around its old granite drying room, which is fired over a wood fire.

Some of his animals roam the surrounding area, at an altitude of 850 metres. These are 'little' pigs that look like Breton pigs, with a predominantly black coat. "A tough breed, suited to mountainous terrain, raised outdoors on a diet of acorns and chestnuts from October to February, and thyme, herbs, ferns and barley the rest of the year."he likes to describe.

Several years ago, the "nustrale" breeders' association submitted an application for classification as a "nustrale". Appellation d'origine contrôlée. This should be obtained in 2012. They are counting on this classification to distinguish them from the 'charcuterie' processed on the island under pseudo-typical names, but made with frozen raw materials from the 'mainland', Eastern Europe or China.

And even Argentina, when it comes to donkey sausage: "a product that has never existed in Corsica, they all insist. We love our donkeys, so there's no question of eating them!" Due to the small size of the herd, it has been established that less than 10 % of the charcuterie marketed on the island is authentically Corsican... In other words, uninformed visitors have virtually no opportunity to taste traditional products; unless, that is, they set off to meet their producers.

Local cheeses are no exception either. The bastelicaccia and sartinese cheeses that have made the reputation of cheeses made from the milk of local goats and sheep, reared extensively by attentive shepherds, are also being devalued by industrial production using milk from a variety of origins. As for brocciu, the famous 'national' fromage frais that accompanies soups, omelettes, stuffed vegetables and fritters, it is particularly vulnerable to imitation. The proliferation of counterfeit products has prompted Corse Escapades to organise tastings of real and fake Corsican products, a much-appreciated demonstration that turns participants into connoisseurs - and ambassadors - of Corsican products.

Gourmets can find all these genuine specialities, presented in a more sophisticated way in the island's thirteen Michelin-starred restaurants, accompanied by the appropriate wines. "Over the last thirty years, Corsican winegrowing has undergone a renaissance process, which has led to a considerable leap in quality, says sommelier Raphael Pierre-Bianchetti. Our wines are now among the best rated in specialist guides and magazines". Their endemic grape varieties - Sciaccarellu, Niellucciu and Vermentinu - as well as the varied terroir, sometimes granite or schist, sometimes clay and limestone, mean that they are like no other.

"In the AOC, some whites are fine and floral, while others are more fleshy and complex. The same goes for the reds: dark, tannic and robust when made from Niellucciu, or more feminine and spicy when made from Sciaccarellu, which is also used to make rosés with notes of red fruit". This is what the sommelier introduces groups to on a half-day wine tasting session. And often more, because it's impossible to grasp all the characteristics of the island's nine AOC wines in just a few hours. Hence the need for special offers, such as those offered by JMH Consulting, an agency specialising in incentive and wine tourism, which combines tastings, mountain biking in the vineyards and helicopter flights.

"The discovery of wines and contact with producers make all the sequences dedicated to gastronomy and local produce highlights of the programme".Laurence Benoit emphasises. In fact, the values conveyed by talking to farmers and craftsmen - the love of their trade, the cult of quality, the tenacity it implies, the pride they take in it - are values that resonate ideally with incentive operations. This type of activity is also part of the new direction in island tourism, which is seeking to rebalance seaside leisure activities with the discovery of inland areas.

And while the mountains are on the agenda, they still occupy only a small part of it, if only because of the lack of suitable accommodation. It's a situation that has mobilised the Corsican Tourism Agency (ATC), whose strategy, announced last October, is to develop a different kind of tourism, with a number of avenues to explore, "the coastline as the gateway to inland Corsica". or even "tourism is inseparable from agriculture".... A way of reviving the illustrious definition of the country by the 19th century geographer Friedrich Ratzel: "a mountain in the sea".