In the region of Vico, and just above the village of Murzo, a strange shaped mountain exists – called the Sposata.

Long ago, in this modest region of the ‘Deux Sorru’, a poor and helpless mother lived with her daughter, Maria, who was as beautiful as the day, but possessing a heart of stone. Whilst looking after their sheep in the mountains, Maria had only one thought in mind; to give up this life of misery – but, how ? It so happened, one day a handsome young man presenting himself to her as the Count of the Cinarca, came upon her way. Rapidly, he fell in love with the beautiful shepherdess, and very soon asked her to marry him – to which she answered positively, without any hesitation.

But, Maria was poor and ashamed of being so; in order to put together a dowry, she had no qualms in com...

As the ‘Fondation Napoléon’ from Paris will be proposing a series of conferences on a regular basis, starting this month of May at the Fesch Museum in Ajaccio, I believe it would be of great interest to inform you beforehand of their wish to provide further knowledge on Napoléon and Corsica – interest shared with pleasure by Philippe Perfettini, historian at the Fesch Museum, with whom I regularly meet in order to supply you with captivating and important historical facts relating to this amazing little island.
A brief retrospective in this respect will not be superfluous.

Having remained in Corsica until 1793, Napoléon leaves to make a career – spending time in Italy and returning to Corsica for the last time in 1799.
Before he dies in 1821, he held a plan to develop Corsica, and as of...

Situated in the centre of the island, and at the foot of the Monte Rotondo – this town steeps in history, and has been referred to more than once, as the ‘heart and soul’ of Corsica, also becoming the choice for the island’s university.

A notable and interesting reminder remains the fact that during Pasquale Paoli’s reign, Corte was once capital of the island during a lapse of independence between 1755-69...

‘Bastelle‘ is a typical Corsican delicacy, and highly appreciated on the island. They can be easily found at the markets, fairs and bakeries. For this particular recipe, we will only be using the green (leaf) of the chard. Popular with children too, an extra idea for lunchtime in case of need.

There are variants of course: marrow and onion – most of the time you will see all choices for sale.

Ingredients:

– 1 bunch chard
– 200g brocciu
– 1 or 2 puff pastry (or homemade dough)
– salt and pepper

Method:

Cook the chard beforehand. Cut out circles in the dough, the size will depend on how big/small you wish your bastelle to be. Cut up the chard greens and if you wish to add onions to the recipe, you can do so by first of all browning them in a frying pan...

When someone returns to Corsica after years of absence, I find it it is always of interest to hear what they have to say. This happens to be the case of Richard Falchi, who had spent most of his life on the mainland, and decided to return to his native island in 2015 – his family are originally from the village of Balogna, not far from Ajaccio – and of which I wrote in detail some time ago as the village street art has always been quite impressive. 

Musician since he was fourteen years of age whilst studying, he left the ‘high plateau’ of the Ardèche region for England in order to perfect his English, and remained there for several months. But when he did return to France, he had in fact become a drummer. Furthering his studies, he attended a French school for press attaché.

Being a pass...